Hikari and Izo
by Hai Xia
Summary: Third story in the story of Nanashi Urameshi and Hiei Jaganshi. Set over ten years later "Nanashi Urameshi" and "Nanashi Urameshi, Other Perspective." Story behaves as a sequel to both parallel novels. Focuses more on Nanashi and Hiei's twins, Hikari and Izo.
1. Chapter 1

*Over ten years later*

Hiei could sense five of them before he properly saw them. He rode on the back of one of the clan's beasts. This... hippogriff was temperamental with him on the trip home. So was its stable hand. Yet, after Nishi abruptly insisted he needed to come home a month early from his training with the large demon for the next demon king tournament next month; he knew he needed to move swiftly and also have his strength about him should something serious had happened. Nishi had not told him why she wanted him home of all of a sudden; but she did promise to explain when he returned.

As he and the stable hand closed the distance to the front lawn on his girl's castle, he sensed his girl and her boy sparring, while he sense Nishi and the innocent one nearby. Likely Nishi was training the two of them again. Her boy seemed to prefer her training while his girl preferred his. His girl had been stuck training with their mother though while he was in the clan's territory, training with the large demon. Thankfully in their training, the large demon had dropped any hard feelings between them from years ago.

When he and the stable hand broke through the tree line, he saw the twins stop their sparring in the middle of front lawn abruptly. Behind them sat Nishi and the innocent one, sitting closely together under a massive blanket. There was a chill in the air, but Hiei found it surprising that they would sit like that. The coward stood a short distance away from the innocent one. The two of them had become mates a few years ago, much to his surprise. He would have thought she would prefer someone stronger.

Before anything was said, Hiei frowned slightly over at the innocent one by Nishi. She was not so innocent anymore though. He could sense she was with child. Maybe that was the reason for the blanket.

Nishi moved her mouth, mouthing his name beside the innocent one. Yet, she did not raise up to greet to him. His girl did though.

"Father!" she cried out, running at him. Her half wild, bobbed black bounced as she moved.

He barely had the chance to slip off his hippogriff before she threw her arms around him. She held fast to him, barely two inches shorter than he was. "Beat your mother to it this time, I see," he commented as she pulled away from him.

The stable hand had jumped off of his hippogriff, taking the reins of both of theirs in hand. He saw the coward had come up to them as well, bowing his head to him before assisting the stable hand to guide the two beasts to their stables around back.

His girl had been rambling, talking rapidly about the events she had experienced in the eight, nearly nine months he had been gone. She and her boy were currently on summer break from their school for demon-human hybrid children in Northern Ireland. Of all the countries to run such a school, one that had a history of peace of reconciliation was better than most.

She kept talking as they walked together towards her boy, who looked himself like he swallowed something sour. He tilted his head low when they were next to him. He was tall where his girl was short. He was taller Nishi, but barely. He kept his teal hair long, braided back in a single braid. In the braid, it reached down to his upper back. He and his girl must have been sparring for a while as his braid was unkempt and partially unraveled.

"Father," he said softly, hand coming out to clasp Hiei's forearm. Hiei returned the gesture in turn.

Hiei kept walking after that, reaching the steps where the innocent one and Nishi sat. Nishi did not raise up, but raised her hands up to his, pulling him down to an embrace where only her upper body moved. He brought his mouth to hers for a chaste kiss.

"I missed you," she breathed softly. The innocent one shifted uncomfortably by them.

He knelt down beside her on the opposite side of the innocent one, hand coming to rest on her knee over the blanket tucked high around her torso. "Why did you call me back early?"

She pursed her lips as he looked up at her. She had been urgent, so why did she not tell him? "Later," she said tersely. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the twins were standing next to each other. Her boy looked cross while his girl looked nervous. "Izo and Hikari actually have something they would like to ask you," Nishi informed him on bated breath.

He turned back to look at the twins. His girl looked suddenly excited and hopeful while her boy looked even more irked. "Perhaps now is not the best time, Mother," her boy said shortly. He was trying to bite back his insolent tone with her. Rarely did he question her like that, even when he was younger.

Hiei looked backed over to Nishi, who was frowning slightly. She looked back to Hiei, saying, "they are fourteen... Old enough to enter the Demon King Tournament. Barely, but allowable since that was the age Yusuke set up when he organized the first tournament. The same age he became a spirit detective. I didn't want to tell them yes before asking you," she finished.

Hiei rose back up, looking over at the twins standing near them. Both looked like they had been sparring before he got here, and hard. "If you are not strong enough, you could die," he told them point blank.

"I can do it! I won't die! I won't!" his girl cried out in enthusiasm. Her voice was colored with a hint of tiredness though.

Her boy stayed quiet beside her. He usually would not talk unless he deemed it necessary. So taciturn, but quietly confident in his own way.

Hiei looked back at Nishi and then back at the twins. He read on her face that on the one hand, she thought they were capable. Otherwise, she would outright have refused to let them. On the other hand, she did not give them explicit permission, which meant she did not fully support the idea with how dangerous it could be. She fell back on him to make the decision.

He thought about how strong and skillful Nishi was, even though she was barred from the tournament because she made a scene at the closing ceremony of the last tournament, swearing at the current king, and earning herself a life ban from future tournaments. If they could prove to be as strong and skillful as she was, or close enough anyway, then yes, they could fight in the next tournament next month.

He figured while he was away, they must have grown strong enough under Nishi's tutelage. But they needed to prove themselves just as skillful. "Split your element dragon across your body," he told them. Nishi could do that when she was at full strength and was focused. If they could do that, then they could keep themselves alive in the tournament he planned on winning.

His girl gaped at him while her boy stood with a quiet poker face. "What?" his girl rushed out angstily. "We've been training all morning. Using our dragons, I can't-" she stopped herself with a huff. "Can we at least wait until tomorrow morning? When I- when we're rested?"

He thought about it briefly, before denying, "no."

His girl hissed through her teeth. She side stepped away from her boy to a safe distance. She summoned up her fire dragon, evolved from the fire serpent of her childhood a year ago. The thing was small and lithe. It blazed around her neck and shoulders. Its heat was the reason her hair was cropped so short around her face. Any hairs that were longer got singed.

She was breathing heavily with just that effort alone. She tensed up, closing her eyes. He watched her as she slid her dragon down her right arm, bringing its head from her palm and out the other side at the top of her hand. She held her hand up for them to see. It shook visibly. After a few seconds, she released her tiny dragon, recalling back within her. Then her eyes rolled to the back of her head, showing the whites of her eyes.

"Hikari!" Nishi rushed out. Nishi did not stand, but the blanket did slip lower down, passed her chest. She pulled the blanket back up, bunching it up in front of her chest.

Her boy broke the distance between them, catching his girl as her legs gave out. She maintained conscienceness out of what seemed like sheer will. Her boy lowered her down to a sitting position on the ground.

"There," she wheezed out. "I... I've proven I... get to be... to go... to the tourna... tournament..." Her eyes blazed, even as her body still trembled a little bit.

Her boy straightened up, stepping away from his panting sister. His eyes rested on Nishi yet. Hiei looked back, seeing Nishi watching his girl with such concern on her face, and yet she sat rooted in her spot. Her lack of movement was unnatural...

Hiei turned back to his boy, calling his attention over to him. "Your turn," Hiei told him.

Her boy nodded once to him, respectfully. He summoned up his own ice dragon, four times the length of Nishi's. He saw no reason to keep it in a compact form like Nishi did. Four feet long and steely blue. It had gone from the serpent to the dragon form over two years ago. His girl had been so livid with jealousy that he reached that point before she did that she nearly killed herself trying to reach the same point he did.

He sent his dragon down his right arm. It weaved its way in and out of his arm half a dozen times. The tail rested hooked around his shoulder while the head came to rest in the palm of his hand. He hardly looked phased with the effort of it. Just breathing a little heavier than usual.

"Show off," his girl griped on the ground next to him. Jealousy dripped from her voice. She rose off of the ground shakily, barely blinking back the angry tears that rose up in response. She ran off towards the front door of the castle and right through it. She slammed the front down hard in her rage.

"Hikari," her boy breathed testily. He took a few hesitant steps towards the front door, but stopped abruptly, looking back over Nishi, silently asking her permission to go after his girl.

"Go after her," Nishi permitted. Her boy still hesitated. "Please." Her boy caste one more worried looked at them before he jogged himself into the castle. She turned to the innocent one sitting next to her under the blanket. "Go with him please, Sayuri. I will speak with Hiei privately out here," she added, casting him a side long glance.

"Are you sure, my lady?" the innocent asked, casting him her own side long glance. She looked suddenly very nervous.

"Yes, Sayuri," Nishi said firmly. "Here is just as good as anywhere," she admitted vaguely. "If you would like instead to go to your mate Hotaka in the stables, you can," she added.

"As you wish, my lady," the innocent one said as she slipped away from the blanket that had covered the two of them. She turned and shuffled nervously away to the direction of the stables and her mate, the coward. She kept throwing them backwards glances until she was out of sight.

Hiei watched her go, still sensing something off of her. She was not heavy set at all, yet from what he thought he sensed off of her should have made her bigger by now. "How long has she been with child?" Hiei asked Nishi when they were alone. Something did not seem to add up quite right.

Nishi whined under her breath, pulling the balled up blanket up to her chin. "She's not," she whispered mousily. He looked down at her, but she her eyes were downcast. "I figured if she was near me when you first got back, you would think it was her." She drew a steeling breath and then shoved the large blanket down to her feet.

He gasped audibly at the sight of her. Her breasts were large and swollen. Her stomach bulged out largely beneath them. She was the one who was pregnant. By the looks of it, she was also about ready to give birth.

"How?" he sputtered out, staring down at her. She could not be, absolutely could not be. She had antibodies in her blood that would attack any demon blooded child she conceived. Even then, the very idea of her conceiving again was next to impossible as she had been damaged internally by the last child she carried over ten years ago. The fire demon boy who burned too hot for her body to handle...

"I don't know," she choked out, suddenly losing all of her confidence and poise from earlier.

"You can't be," he hissed out. "Your body should not be able to conceive, let alone carry a child to term," he growled. He stared down at her hard, not believing what he could see with his own eyes. He was suddenly cross with her when her blurted out the thought that came to him, "why didn't you send for me immediately when you first found out." He kept his voice soft, but deadly.

She rested her hands on her stomach, keeping her head down. "Izo sensed it first. When he told me, I figured I would lose him just as soon as I had conceived him."

"Clearly you didn't," he hissed out. "You have to be..." he ticked off the time the he had been gone. "... eight and a half to nine months pregnant right now." He had been gone that long.

She spoke, voice as weak as water. "I... took on Asa as a midwife, after being check at a hospital in Northern Ireland, of course. The one for mothers of demon-human children..." she hummed under her breath, still not looking up at him. "He's not... his blood type isn't demon, it's human... same as mine. So my body doesn't reject him..." She shifted her feet, antsy. "Asa, as well as the other doctor- the female doctor, confirmed that I should deliver within the next three or four days. Next week at the latest."

He stared down at her, thinking back over all the mental conversations the two of them had had while he was away training with the large demon. Her mental images she projected then showed no signs of this secret pregnancy. Her words spoken to him made no mention of it. The most she would say to him was that sorely missed him and loved him, but wanted him to stay with the large demon and stay focused on his training. She, and the twins, and the wolf healer, and everyone else had kept this secret from him. The only reason any of them would do that was if she ordered it.

"Why didn't you send for me sooner than this?" he said, voice full of bite. "When you knew you weren't going to miscarry, why didn't you send for me?" He kept himself from yelling at her, but barely.

She looked up at him then, dead in the eye. "Because you needed to focus on your training!" she rushed out. Her voice shook as she spoke. She took two rushed breaths. "If I told you, you would have ended your training abruptly and come back to me. Like you did just now."

She looked back down at her feet, hand coming up to her mouth. His temper flared, vision blinking red for half a second. He snatched up her wrist, yanking her arm towards him. He held her wrist firmly, but without any force or pain applied.

"Look at me," he ordered her harshly. She did so, apprehension dancing in her eyes. Her free hand wrapped protectively around her enlarge middle. "Why? Why didn't you send for me? Why didn't you tell me?"

She swallowed thickly, saying, "because you're one of the men from my second prophecy," she shouted. She tugged at her wrist. He let it go when she did that. "The one the Great Hawk Spirit told me. That three men will change the destiny of the Demon World is about to come true. Three men who will act out of anger, desperation, and preservation." She was rambling, but at least she kept her eyes trained up to his for a change. "There have been so many years of peace in the Demon World, that it makes sense that the upcoming Demon World Tournament has to be when the peace will break and the three men will change the world's fate. You're one of them. You have to be. I think you'll be the one who acts out of anger," her voice puttered out to a whisper. "I was worried that if I pulled you away from your training with the large demon, that you won't be strong enough in the tournament. And that you will die if you aren't strong enough." Her voice cracked on her last words of her conjectured confession.

"You don't know that," he said down to her. "You don't know any of that. Unless you received more information from the Great Hawk Spirit after your original prophecy, you would not know any of what you just said for certain."

"What else would make sense?" she asked insistently.

He let her wrist go with a shake. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. She looked down at the ground like a guilty child. "What do you want me to say?" He stared down at her hard, but she did not flinch nor look back up at him. He looked behind his shoulder at the castle. "Please stay," she rushed out the plea. "I want you there with me."

He thought about doing anything otherwise to what she asked, but now that she asked it, it did seem a little tempting. He seethed, but knelt down next to her, hand submissively laying on her knee. "Never keep such a secret like this from me again," he hissed out harshly.

She swallowed thickly and then nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

Things that night were so quiet and uncomfortable. Nanashi felt uneasy about having Hiei back in the castle suddenly. Dinner was near quiet between the two of them while Hikari was mooning over having Hiei back in the castle. She was kind of oblivious to his annoyance with Nanashi. Izo was not however. He was watching between the two of them carefully, observing their behavior astutely. It made Nanashi uncomfortable with how hyper aware he was about everything around him. Kurama said it was a natural thing for a demon, especially being that Hiei was the same way as a child.

After dinner, the evening was uncomfortably quiet as well. Nanashi tried to read in the library, but she could not focus on the words or the plot of the book she was trying to read. Hiei was away with Hikari, going for a second round of easy training with him. Izo was in the library with her as well, but studying instead of reading. He school was not in session, but he still wanted to learn on his own time.

When evening fell into nightfall, Nanashi went upstairs to her bedroom, unsure if Hiei would be there as well. She hoped he would not be sleeping outside in one of the trees like the last time they got in a fight over something less serious than this.

With aching slowness, Nanashi undressed and took a short, but hot shower alone. Afterwards, she shrugged her pajamas on, feeling like that took way too much energy to do than it should. This pregnancy, while easier than with the twins, still left her body exhausted. She was almost looking forward to having Kaze as it meant she would no longer carry his heaviness around. But on the other hand, giving birth was not something she was looking forward to going through again. As if he knew she was thinking about him, he gave her a few hardy kicks before settling down.

She heaved herself into bed, lolling herself to sleep on her side, keeping her senses open in case Hiei ended up coming to the room later tonight.

She jumped awake when she sensed he came into the room late in the night. She sat up, looking over at him sleepily as he came through their bedroom door. He watched her carefully as he came in, as if unsure of himself. She needed to be cautious now as he was on edge and mad with her. She laid herself back down on the bed, but turned to face the middle of the bed.

He climbed gingerly into the bed next to her, like a dog who could be spooked away at an inopportune moment. He was dressed in a simple pair of black sleeping pants. She felt Kaze give a hardly couple of kicks in her stomach. She flinched a little in surprise.

"What's wrong?" he asked her softly.

She shook her head softly, hand coming to rest on her stomach. "Kicking," she murmured. "Strong for one being human blooded."

He stared down at her and her hand on her stomach, unblinkingly. He clicked his teeth. "Let me look through you mind," he requested. "From the moment I left to the moment I came back."

The idea made her recoil internally, but she nodded in consent anyway. He would see all her arguments and insistence to keep her secret from him. Hopefully he would see the loving, noble reason behind it. She closed her eyes, willing her to relax and be open to his prying mind.

He rooted around gently as possible, but as thoroughly and swiftly. She saw the different events flash through her mind as he looked them over. He lingered on her last argument with Asa and Izo over telling Hiei to come home for the birth. They railed against her as a team and convinced her to summon him back.

When he pulled out of her mind, she opened her eyes back up, but did not raise her head up to look at him. She saw him at the edge of her sight put his headband back on. He moved fast out of the corner of her eye, almost frightening her. His hand came to rest firmly under her chin, jerking her head up. She gasped, but he cut off the sound when he crashed his mouth onto hers.

He kissed hard, commanding, and almost angrily. He pulled his mouth off of hers just as suddenly as he had kissed her. "Never keep such as secret like this from me again," he growled. She nodded, not trusting her voice.

His mouth claimed hers once more as he let her chin go. He pressed her shoulder down onto the bed. He had a thought to climb on top of her, but not with her stomach so large and vulnerable. He leaned against her upper body, hand coming to pet her breasts through her sleep shirt.

He spoke against her lips, between kisses. "I want you," he confessed.

"Even after...?" she started, voice petering out.

He tensed up, hand sliding to the middle of her stomach. "I don't like that you kept this secret, but from your mind, I can tell it was not out malicious intent." She brought her up to his neck mate bite, stroking it gently. "Over eight months is quite a long time," he added in, voice almost purring. "Can I touch you?" he asked on bated breath.

Nanashi debated internally what would be the right course of action. She would have Kaze sometime within the next few days and after that, anything physical would be on hold for at least six weeks. And Hiei had been gone quite awhile. And had surprisingly been so accepting and understanding why she kept the pregnancy secret from him. Why she wanted him to focus on his training so that he would survive the demon king tournament and her second prophecy.

"Gently," she finally said, nodding in consent. Even then, a wave of sleepiness rolled over her. She yawned, giving him just the slightest hint that she was tired. Hopefully this could be a situation where she could rest and let him do most of the work.

He kissed her more intently then. Next, he pulled her up carefully to a sitting position, hands coming to the hem of her shirt. He pushed her back down to lay down on her back. After that, he tugged down her sleeping pants and panties together, exposing her to him. It had been so long and this so abrupt, that she felt nervous, scared he might find her large and softer body unattractive.

Physically, he let her know that was not the case. He leaned down over by her side, mouth claiming her neck now, while his hand stroked her center with almost a sense of hurry. She could feel him trembling in his own right as his deft fingers teased along the top of her mound. His mouth kissed down to her nearest breast, taking its center into his mouth with a sharp, insistent tug. She gasped at his rushed, half planned touch. His teeth biting her, hurting so good.

She felt so close so suddenly that she could barely breathe. He stopped abruptly. She looked up at him, keeping her face neutral, but wanting to know what he was planning. So rushed. She could already see he was hard for her. He must have wanted her just as badly as she had wanted him while he was away.

He laid himself down on the bed, tugging off his pants in his haste. He rolled back over to her, but she raised her hand up into the air, staying him. She felt his eyes on her as she hefted herself up onto her hands and knees. She pulled her pillow underneath her so her stomach had something soft to rest on. Then she pulled his pillow under her head, resting it there. She turned her head over to him, nodding.

He came up behind her, slipping his cock inside of her. She gasped, feeling pleasure rebuilding inside of her with each controlled thrust he made. He had not let her come on her back. He must have been saving that moment for when he could feel it.

While he was being careful with his thrusting, he reached his hand around to her clit, teasing it deftly. She moaned out loud as his touch. She came quickly on his cock, hearing him heave an enjoyable sigh at the feel of it. He came inside of her right afterwards.

When he slid out of her, she laid down on her side as quick as she could. Even that just wore her out. She felt herself doze off, feeling herself jump awake as he threw the blanket over her. She tried to say thank you, but the sleepiness in her voice let out just a few grateful moans.


	3. Chapter 3

Nishi was worn out the next three days, just from taking it easy on her normal daily tasks and resting or at least sitting as often as she could. Hiei watched her carefully, wondering just as much as she did when she would deliver their newest miracle child. The wolf healer stayed in the castle, since she was the midwife for her. One thing that annoyed him was the doctor from the Spirit World was on retainer and staying with until she delivered as well. Nishi had to be quite insistent and convincing to get Hiei to accept that fact. At least the doctor could look inside her body and check that everything went well. Hiei still did not like the idea of the doctor assisting with the birth, but accepted it grudgingly.

The fourth day, in the morning, shortly after breakfast, Nishi went into labor. She had been working in the library when it started. Hiei had been with her, watching over her. Once she breathed through the first part of the pain that started, she set herself and others to task.

With Hiei, she had him help her get to the birthing room she had set up next to their rooms. The innocent one, who had been in the library with them when it started, was sent to fetch the doctor and the wolf healer and send them to the birthing room.

At first, the pain seemed manageable to her as the four of them set her up in the birthing room. Her boy had come too to her side, but according to him, his girl was uncomfortable with the idea of watching her give birth. The doctor checked her with his hologram projections periodically over the next four hours that passed. So did the wolf healer, but with a hands on approach.

After the four hour mark however, the pain dialed it up for her. She was screaming and sometimes even crying when a contraction ripped through her, even with the shot the doctor gave her in her lower back to assist her. At the wolf healer's insistence, Nishi would walk around between contractions as it eased the pain for her.

After two hours of that pain, Nishi would not walk, even when the wolf healer tried to get her to. She wanted to just lay in her bed. The pain seemed more intense than it should have for her. Each time Hiei asked about it, the doctor explained that it was normal and everything was going as expected.

When six hours had passed since her labor started, Nishi was ready to give birth. The wolf healer and her boy stood on one of side of her while Hiei and the doctor stood at the other. The doctor watched carefully through his hologram, making sure everything continued as normal.

"Stop," the doctor told her suddenly after her second round of pushing, where their son was about half way born. "The cord is wrapped around his neck," the doctor explained. To Nishi, he explained, "don't push, even if your body wants to." The most Nishi could do in response was look pale up at him. Hiei did not know what to do. To the wolf healer, the doctor instructed, "Asa, you need to reach in and loosen the cord. He won't be choked as he can get air from the cord, but it will keep him from harm."

The wolf healer did as she was bid, even with Nishi whimpering in response to the necessary pain inflicted by it. Her hand clung to Hiei's tightly. Hiei, not sure where to put his eyes, watched the doctor's hologram. As did the wolf healer to make sure she pulled the cord off their son's neck without hurting it, him, or Nishi. Her boy had turned his head away, not looking at the scene. The boy looked uncertain if he even wanted to be there anymore.

Once the wolf healer removed her hand again, the doctor instructed Nishi to push. She screamed as she did so. Their son was almost out after that. Her boy bulked at that, leaving the room with a quick apology.

Nishi watched the door as her boy left forlornly, but murmured that that was okay and the fact that he had stayed so long for a boy his age was considerable.

The wolf healer was bending over Nishi's center, ready to catch their son the second he was born. Nishi pushed one more time, the head crowning. Another pushed lead to their son being half way born. With one last scream and push, their son was born into the wolf healer's hands.

Their son cried loudly as he was born, robustly. Nishi cried freely herself at this moment, asking to hold him, almost begging. The wolf healer cut the cord herself and then passed their son up to Nishi. She cried blinking rapidly, so she could properly see the child she had delivered successfully.

Hiei watched quietly next to her, noticing their son had raven black hair like both of them did, but sky blue eyes, something that was unexpected. He had his own tiny sliver of a wind serpent hanging around his neck.

Once Nishi had held their son long enough to bond, she mostly willingly passed him off to the wolf healer to clean him up.

"I'm so tired," Nishi murmured as she carelessly wiped her hands off on the sheets beneath her.

"You can sleep once you're finished," the doctor told her. "Asa," he called over to wolf healer. Together, the three of them finished her delivery and were done.

"You can rest now, my lady," the wolf healer told her soothingly. Tenderly, she stroked Nishi's brow, sweeping a stray and sweaty hair out her face.

And sleep Nishi did, peacefully and deeply while the wolf healer and Hiei took care of their son who should have never even been born. A miracle child in his own right.

The wolf healer commented that even in his first hours, he behaved goodly, honorably. As much as a child his age could anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

Mother had recovered well from the birth of Brother with Izo's healing, Asa's healing, and Daiki's healing. Brother did was strong and hardy as well. He was not much of a bother to take care for any of them. He slept well and hardly fussed without good reason. Mother had loved him the instant she knew he was conceived. She seemed extra relieved that Brother survived and was delivered. She found him precious. The same way she had found Izo and Sister precious.

Mother took as much care of Brother as much as she could. Father even assisted as well on his own time. Sister did as well, but more distantly. Izo did though almost as much as Mother did. The two nannies hired to help found they had little to do outside of the four of them.

Meanwhile, now that Mother was preoccupied with caring for Brother, Father took up the mantel of training Sister and Izo.

Father had always favored Sister, even when he tried to curb the feeling. Mother had told him to do that time and again. Sister was a fire demon, just like him. She had his ferocity, but was more extroverted about it. Outgoing where he was introverted. She was like him in looks and temper.

Izo was different on the other hand. He had inherited ice demon and healer traits, something Father inevitably found enviable. Perhaps with Father had been born the way Izo had been, he would have never been left for dead and thrown off the ice maiden's homeland. A jealousy between them that neither of them ever asked for. Izo had figured that out as a young child, and also found the wisdom not to hate Father for it, but rather to move passed it.

Father used him, pushing Sister to be just as good as he was. He was a measure for her. He was pushed as well, but more by himself internally than by Father or Mother or anyone else.

Three and a half weeks after Brother was born, the four of them reluctantly left Brother behind with the nannies for the Demon King Tournament. Izo was too young to recall exactly why, but Mother had been banned from the tournament for life. Mother had been taciturn to explain exactly what happened, but according to Uncle Yusuke, she had cussed out the king when the king publicly chastised for the drama caused by some other demon who kissing her in front of his mate. Sounded like he was missing part of the story in there somewhere.

So while the four of them arrived, only three of them registered to fight in the tournament. Before the fighting started, they met up with the ever robust Uncle Yusuke, Uncle Kazuma, Uncle Kurama, and Izo's favorite, Aunt Yukina.

While Mother was the first person Izo had remembered, Aunt was the second person he did. He remembered an infant confusing the two of them, blurring the line of who was Mother and who was Aunt. Aunt was so much like him in looks and taciturn personality. Izo remembered the night that Aunt had confronted Father about the two of them being twins by using Izo as a precursor to her words. It was the night Aunt had seemed the angriest and sternest. Sister had been there, but somehow she did not remember anything about that night. She did not remember a lot of from before the two of them were three years old.

Those who could register to fight, did register. Uncle Yusuke had left his own three boys and one girl with his wife. Izo's cousins were too young to yet according to their mother to see such a violent tournament. Aunt's young girl was staying with them as well. Aunt Keiko must have had her hands full.

While the lot of them where talking and catching up, in Uncle Yusuke's case, teasing Mother about having Brother when she was not able to have anymore children. While they were talking, Izo looked over at the registration table. He saw a tall, brood figure dressed in all black, including a mask to cover his face. Based on the build, it was a male demon. He had one shade jet black hair pulled back behind his head in a tightly twisted braid. After he registered, Izo say him walk away from the table and everyone else quickly. He did not talk or even look at anyone else in the area.

He must have sensed Izo staring at him for so long that he looked up, meeting Izo's eyes for half a split second. Izo kept his face neutral, but could have sworn he had seen those blue eyes before.


	5. Chapter 5

Hikari had determinedly won her preliminary fight against the over two dozen demons against her. While mother had advised both her and Izo not to use their dragons in the fights and to save their energy until they absolutely had to, Hikari so no reason not to use it in the preliminary match. There were too many opponents not to.

In her preliminary match, Hikari used her dragon to scorch the grass and trees on her wooded plain, causing a forest fire that took out all but three opponents. Two of those three took each other, leaving her with just one opponent to defeat.

Izo had also won his preliminary match, but without using his ice dragon at all. He was weakened by the fighting physically though. So while Hikari was weaker spiritually, Izo was weaker physically. She wanted him to win the tournament if she or Father did not, but still did not want to face him in the tournament if possible. Much to her disdain, he had always been one step ahead of her, always stronger both physically and spiritually. Father had used him as a measure to see how to make her stronger.

After their matches and complements from Mother and their uncles, Mother did advise Hikari once more to try to hold her energy back until she absolutely needed it. Hikari half thought that maybe overwhelming an opponent and taking them out quickly would be a better way to go about it.

After that, the first round of tournament was set to start. Hikari cursed her luck when she realized that her match was Izo. She seethed quietly at the idea. He knew her strengths and weaknesses and her fighting style. She was unsure how she would be able to surprise her and get the better of him in the fight.

They journeyed to the plane separately, as was custom. Once they reached the rocky, desert plane however, they were together again. The met in the middle of the plane, standing near and facing each other.

Izo's face looked blank except with a mischievous glint in his eye. After the announcer called for the fight to commence, Izo's mouth curved into a small smirk. "Mother did say not to use our dragons," he said quietly. "But what if we did it just long enough to show what two half human demons are capable of?"

Hikari smiled at that, jumping back away from him to create a safe distance between the two of them. He was actually going to openly defy Mother just to show off and she was all about that. Father would be proud of that in his own way.

Hikari summoned up her dragon around her neck, letting its slim form out loose as large as she could get it. Izo did that same thing with his ice dragon. His hung down around his shoulders, both ends dangling until it they reached his hips on either side.

Hikari next inflamed her dragon with a battle cry, sending the energy from it out to engulf the space around her. A large sphere of fire surrounded her and twenty feet around her. It reached just short of half the distance from where Izo stood.

Izo cried out next, his sounding like her much more enjoyed this than she did. He equally let loose his energy, allowing it to surround the area with his own sphere of ice energy. His was bigger, more powerful than hers. When his sphere of energy hit hers, sparks ignited from the contact of the two spheres. Hikari pushed harder on hers against Izo's, causing more sparks. The more sparks were too much, leading to explosion between the two of them.

Both of them were knocked backwards by the blast, loosing control of their respective energy spheres. Hikari groaned as she stopped rolling just short of the edge of their plane. Then she laughed slightly at the enjoyment off it. She could have sworn she heard Izo laughing as well on the other side of the plane.

She pulled herself up and brushed herself off. Izo was far ahead of her, but not that far. She sprinted over to him, closing the distance with as much speed as she could muster.

Just before she reached him, she skidded to a halt in front of him. She frowned at the fact he did not even flinch.

"No weapons?" he asked her calmly. "No energy? No dragons? Just fists?"

That was when their fight really began. She smiled up at him, nodding. It was also as if they both forgot they were in the Demon King Tournament and fought the way they did when training at home.

She hated how tall he was on a good day, and now it was something extra annoying. He was slightly taller than Mother, and she was just shorter than Father. And while she showed no signs of growing anymore anytime soon, he still was.

She knew though to play her smaller size to her advantage. To get in close so he could not get full extension of his fists when he struck her.

Yet he kept moving, side stepping or backing away from her so he could swing his fists fully at her. After who knew how long, he finally had her down for the count. After an aggressive hook to the side of her head from him, she staggered and fell to the ground, clawing at it for purchase as her ears rang and stars danced behind her eyes.

She could hear the ten count starting. She looked up at Izo standing there, watching her intently to see if she would get up. He absentmindedly wiped blood away from the corner of his lip.

She had to get up, she knew that. The ten count was going. She clumsily brought her hands down beneath her and then tried to get her feet to do the same. She needed to stand. The ten count was going. One foot managed purchase, but just as soon as the second one rose to meet it, both collapsed under her for some strange and tangled reason. The ten count was going, even if the ringing in her ears was so loud that it was all she could hear.

The ground as she skittered for purchase seemed oddly wet and foggy, something that did not make sense at all. The ten count was going, she thought over and over.

She got herself settled on her hands and knees, even though it made nausea roll around her stomach. Hissing through her teeth, she jumped in a way to force her feet into the position her legs were just in. The ten count was going. She pushed her feet apart, half controlling the skid they did to give her a wide base from which to stand from. The ten count had to still be going. She fought the urge to vomit then and there.

She looked over at Izo, somehow there were two of him blurring together. He approached her, standing in front of her carefully. Gently, he brought his hands up to either side of her head, healing the concussion he gave her without being asked.

He let go just after the wave of nausea left her and she could properly hear and see again. "I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to heal your opponent," she said snarkily.

"No one cares what happens after the ten count is finished," he replied back.

"You're kidding me," she said, face aghast. She was certain she had stood up in time.

"It finished over a minute ago," he told her. "Around the time you tangled one foot around the other and knocked yourself back down again."

She frowned up at him, resisting the urge to slap the smile off his face. Instead, she turned away, storming off to where the transports would be to pick them up and remove them from their fighting plane.


	6. Chapter 6

Nanashi sat with Hiei and the others, watching the twins fight against each other. It irked her at first to see both of them display their energies fully against each other until the volatility of it exploded in their faces. She had told them to only use their dragons as a last resort, to save their energy. She did breath a sigh of relief to see that neither of them were harmed and they rose to feet in laughter.

"Clever," Kurama commented next to her.

Nanshi looked at him as Kuwabara asked, "huh? What do you mean?"

Yusuke gave his own two cents. "In a way, they're showing off," he commented. "Showing off just how strong they can be. But given how young they are and the fact that they are half human, it shows that they are opponents to be reckoned with. Someones who should be taken seriously."

"Hn," Hiei grunted on her other side. "Hikari should have figured that out first, but likely Izo did."

Nanashi let herself have a short moment to laugh at that. "She's still smarter than Yusuke," she told him softly.

"Hey, I heard that," Yusuke griped. "Do you expect your third little miracle child to be as strong as they are fourteen years from now? Given that he's human blooded and not demon blooded like they are?"

The mention of Kaze made Nanashi miss him, but the tournament was not a place to bring him. He certainly did not seem weak. He was a goodly child, even at only a few weeks old. Slept a lot, hardly fussed. It was odd when compared to how Hikari had been, screaming and angry and loud every two or three hours for months on end.

"Only time will tell," she answered, turning her focus back to the fight between the twins.

They were only fighting with their fists now, no energy, no dragons. They were saving their energy like they should, good.

They were actually fighting just like they had been in training. Hikari would try fight close while Izo would try to keep distance so each could use their size effectively against the other. Izo also was being cautious not to hit Hikari in a way that could make her bleed.

"Come on," she heard Hiei murmur when Hikari got close enough to deal Izo a rough blow to his torso. Izo blocked it at the last second, making Hiei click his teeth.

"When they fight like that at home? Like over stupid stuff, who usually wins?" Yusuke asked, eyes watching the fight.

"If they fight like that outside of training, neither," Nanashi responded.

"Duck," Hiei said to himself.

Nanashi looked up, seeing Izo's fist land full force across the side of Hikari's face. She winced involuntarily at the sight of it. Hikari staggered and fell to the ground clumsily. Her legs tangled beneath her torso.

The count down started: "one... two..."

Izo had backed away from her, keeping his distance, but not taking his eyes off of her. Hikari did not stay still for long. She brought her hands underneath her shoulders, pushing her upper body off of the ground.

"...three... four..."

"Get up," Hiei breathed.

'Even if she gets up, she's in no state to fight anymore,' Nanashi thought to her wind dragon.

'Izo didn't look like he held back on his punch,' her wind dragon replied.

"... five... six..."

Hikari had brought her right foot underneath her waist, but it was crossed over to the left side of her body.

"...seven... eight..."

Shakily, Hikari brought her left leg up, trying to get it underneath her to stand up, but ended up tangling her legs together beneath her, causing her to fall over again.

"... nine... ten..."

Hikari was still trying to stand up, even as Koto, the announcer, declared Izo the winner. She moved as if she had not heard the announcement.

After a few more attempts, Hikari finally managed to get her feet underneath her in a wide stance. She shook as she lifted up her upper body to face Izo.

Once she was standing, Izo stepped over to her, placing two healing hands around her head. He was healing her injury there.

Yusuke heaved a sigh, drawing attention over to himself. "So now that the wonder twins are finished, whose fighting next?"

Nanashi looked over at the lists on one of the screens. Enki was listed next to the name "Anonymous." Nanashi frowned in puzzlement. "What demon would not want his identity known?" she asked no one in particular.

Hiei growled under his breath next to her. He reached his hand down to hers, pulling her with him as he stood up and began walking briskly. "Let's go get the twins," he flubbed out. Something in his tone was off.

She heard Yusuke and Kuwabara call after them, but she kept following Hiei anyway. She cast them a confused look. To herself she thought going after the twins was unnecessary. They were not injured severely, so there was no need for that. They could find them in their own time. They knew where they and the others planned to sit. Hiei's behavior was just... odd.

Instead of leading her towards the healing tent, he lead her down a deserted hallway and then stopped abruptly. He turned around, pulling off his headband in the process. She still had not said anything, but she frowned at him, feeling silence was necessary.

Mentally, he dead panned, 'you don't like secrets and I'm not keeping this one from you, even if he doesn't want you to know. It's Hayate.'

"What?" she breathed. "Why-"

She was halted mid-word with his hand over her mouth. He shook his head. 'He wants it kept silent,' he thought to her. 'Secret. Minha wants the crown back in her family and after all the years, has finally convinced her mate to go after it. She's been pushing for it for nearly two decades.' He pulled his hand off of her mouth. 'He's worried about what would happen if he and his motives were known. Not all the demons of this world want the monarchy restored the way he and Minha intend. Nor does he want retaliation against the clan should he fail.'

'Is he going to end the Demon King Tournaments after this one?' Nanashi asked silently, worried that the end of the tournaments would destroy the peace Yusuke started and Enki continued throughout the Demon World. She shuddered to think what would happen if war were to break out all over again. Demons needed that violent release or entertainment to sate their blood lust. It was the way of this world.

Hiei shook his head. 'Minha understands how necessary they are at keeping the peace in the world. Why would another demon go to war with a rival when he could just beat him up at the tournament? Or become king and take away everything the rival holds dear.

'As for the tournaments, if Hayate wins, the plan is to name the next highest ranking combatant as hand of the king. Like a king's right hand or assistant. Someone who will have near equal power to the king and influence over how affairs will run in the world. The two of them hope that will assuage any risk of war or conflict after this tournament.'

'So he's going to be one of the three men from my prophecy,' Nanashi thought. 'I think you're one too. So that leaves one more mystery man...'

'Will you keep quiet about Hayate's identity in the tournament?' he pressed. She nodded in agreement. He closed the gap between the two of them, stood taller, and kissed her firmly on the lips.

After that, they went and found the twins, with a broody Hikari finishing up being healed by Yukina. Yukina chatted pleasantly with Izo while she wrapped up with Hikari.

Nanashi noticed the wet and blooded wash cloth on the table next to them. Before Yukina healed her, she must have cleaned Hikari cuts and scraps carefully. While Hikari had been demon blooded, same blood type as Hiei, she was prone to blood infections the way humans were. Possibly she was worse than some humans. Nanashi and the others had found this out when Hikari was young. Healing her without cleaning a wound first could lead to infections that took some time for her to shake. Nanashi remembered one terrifying sickness that left her bed ridden for days. Kurama had to bring strong antibiotics for her from the Human World to help her get better.

When they wrapped up there, the four of them went back to the stands and watched Hayate's match against Enki. It had been over in less than two minutes, much to Nanashi's shock. Without mortally wounding him, Hayate charged and overwhelmed Enki, shoving him out of the arena before the giant of a demon could even think twice about how to counterattack.

"Who the fuck is that?" Yusuke asked, shocked himself.

"I..." Nanashi stuttered out. "I don't know..." she lied with a tongue that felt thick.

Intentionally, she kept her eyes trained on the video screen instead of looking over to Hiei like she really wanted to. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Izo frown the way did when he was thinking hard. Part of her wondered if he had already figured it out too.


	7. Chapter 7

Nanashi stayed with and sat with with Hikari the rest of the time during the tournament. Hikari at first was absolutely grouchy about losing to her brother, growing a little bit grouchier when she saw Izo, Hiei, Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara get up and go to their fights. She was less grouchy when all but Izo and Hiei remained behind with them.

Over the course of the tournament, the semifinals came down to just four: Izo, Hiei, Hayate/ Anonymous, and Yomi. The idea of any of the other three fighting Yomi made Nanashi nervous. Yomi was vicious in his fighting, not holding back against any opponent, save Kurama. Even then, Kurama had to be rushed to the healers. A few of his other opponents were not so lucky in comparison...

Nanashi watched anxiously, wondering when her prophecy would take place, if it did at all. She was certain before the tournament that it would be here, but now she was not so sure.

Nanashi anxiously watched as the semifinal matches were decided. Izo would go up against Hayate and afterwards, Hiei was going to go up against Yomi.

Hayate was still in his all black, ninja styled disguise with his blonde hair dyed black. His face stayed hidden. Nanashi brought her left hand up to her mouth absentmindedly, trying to keep herself from nibbling on her thumb nail. Hayate really wanted to win, but had kept himself from killing his opponents in the process.

Hiei, who was sitting next to her on her right side firmly brought his left hand down on her right thigh. She jumped, looking down at her leg and then over to him.

"Quit shaking your leg," he told her under his breath. She had not even realized she had been tapping it rapidly up and down before he stopped her. "He'll survive." He took his hand off of her leg.

"Are you sure?" Hikari asked on his other side. "Who is that guy anyway?"

"Someone who is determined to keep his identity secret, that's for sure," Yusuke said on Nanashi's left side. Yusuke was trying to hold back his own grouchiness as Hayate had defeated both him and Kuwabara in two separate matches. "But not someone who will try to put your brother in an early grave."

The lot of them ceased talking when Koto announced that the match was to begin.

Surprisingly, neither Izo nor Hayate moved. They were so still, too still. They also stayed silent. Both stood across from each other on their forest plane that had been mostly turned to timber from previous matches. It seemed like both of them were waiting for the other to make the first move. Izo did usually like to let his opponent attack him first, but in his previous matches, Hayate usually charged at his opponents to overwhelm them. Yet he was not doing that with Izo.

Izo broke the silence, giving into to uncomfortableness of it. "When are you going to take off that disguise?" Hayate did not respond, but looked surprised and stood up taller. "I know who you are," he dead panned.

Hikari, next to Hiei, shouted, "how?" She looked over at Nanashi and Hiei. "How did he figure that out?!" She turned back to the screen, crossing her arms over her chest as she scowled.

Kurama spoke next, from his seat behind Nanashi, "he might be bluffing." Nanashi turned back, looking up at him. "Or it might be a rouse to throw Anonymous off before the fight begins."

Nanashi turned back toward the screen. Still stillness and more silence. Izo stayed still, watching Hayate, not even blinking. Hayate got fed up with the stillness sooner than Izo did. He charged towards him, drawing the sword at his hip as he did so.

Izo moved faster than expected at the last second. He jumped, tucked, and rolled away from Hayate before the sword could come down on him. Hayate was right there, sword coming down towards Izo in his crouched position with blinding speed.

And just as fast, Izo had his dragon out in his preferred bastard sword shape. He held it out in front of him, blocking Hayate's real sword coming right at him. Hayate pressed down hard on his sword, making Izo hiss under his breath. His arms were shaking as he tried to push against the bulk and force that Hayate was applying against him.

Izo gasped, voice sounding slightly pitiful as he fell back onto his back with the force. He still kept trying to keep Hayate's sword at bay. Hayate followed him down, pressing the metal sword towards while Izo pressed his ice sword up at him.

It was over too fast in Nanashi's mind. She heard Koto start the count down already. "One... two... three..."

Izo was not ready to give up yet. He kicked at Hayate's legs and torso. Hayate did wince when Izo caught his knee on the side, but it did not shake the larger demon off.

"... four... five... six..."

Izo, without warning, let his ice dragon drop out of its sword form. He split it across his arms and shoulder, one hand had the head and one hand had the tail. Hayate held his sword back so it only pressed down into Izo's left shoulder. There was no blood, but likely there would be bruising. Even as Izo cried out in pain, he was moving. He slammed his hands down onto the ground, freezing it around him and Hayate. Slick ice formed all around them.

"... seven... eight..."

Then Hayate slipped, falling on top of Izo, sword between the two of them. Izo shouted again, a plaintive sound in response to the pain of the sword slicing into his chest and shoulder. Nanashi stared hard, not blinking as both of them shoved each other away.

"... nine..."

Before Koto could reach 'ten,' both of them were off their knees, so they could not be out for the count. Izo crouched on the ground, right hand steadying himself on the ground while his left shoulder and part of his chest bled steadily. His dragon wrapped around the wound, but he did nothing to heal it. He rose up onto the balls of his feet, taking a wide stance with his feet. He was panting and in pain. Nanashi did not want to watch anymore, yet she could not take her eyes off of him.

Hayate, on the other hand, was back on his feet, sword tinged with Izo's blood. He shook it out, blood flicking to the ground. Hayate nodded silently over at Izo's shoulder, but did not say anything. Izo cocked his head in a taunting look.

"Heal it," Hayate growled in a low voice. It was one of the few times he had spoken during the tournament.

Izo shook his head in refusal. "Not allowed to be healed, even self healed, while competing in the tournament. If I do that, then I'm out." Izo winced, standing up straighter. "You didn't mean to do that anyway," he added, looking down at his injured shoulder. Hayate growled low and wordlessly at Izo. Izo gave him a pained smile as he kept the tail of his dragon wrapped and pressed against his shoulder wound while he brought the head down to his right hand. "Too proud to attack a wounded opponent?" Izo called over to Hayate. "Or too cowardly?" Hayate growled again, shifting his weight and tightening his grip on his sword. "You know what I think...?" Izo preempted.

When Hayate went to open his mouth, but Izo then made his next move. With a flick of his wrist, he brought his right arm across his body. His dragon shot ice shards out of its mouth and straight at Hayate.

Hayate brought his hands up to protect his face, shouting in a mix of held back rage and pain as the ice shards struck him in the arms.

Izo swayed on his feet after that. Hayate swore, "boy." He reached over to his right arm, yanking the largest ice shard out of his forearm. The tip was dark red.

"Now we're even," Izo egged him on.

"Hardly, boy," Hayate snapped at him.

"As you say, my g-... lord," Izo kept nagging him.

Nanashi took in a sharp breath. 'He knows. I don't know how, but he does. For certain,' she thought to the wind dragon.

'What do the Hayato clan call Hayate again?' it asked.

'Gunju,' Nanashi twitched her lips. 'And Minha is Gunjueun according to Hiei. And Izo has heard those terms before too.'

Hayate gave in, charging at Izo, injury or no injury. Hayate threw a right hook, catching Izo square in the jaw. Izo staggered and then threw his own punch over at Hayate, catching him in his injured forearm intentionally. Hayate gave a wordless bark, bringing his foot up in line and slamming it into Izo's chest. Izo stumbled back, trying to keep his balance. Hayate took the opportunity now to upper cut between Izo's rib cage.

Izo choked at that, backing away and wrapping his arms around his middle. "Finally decided to treat me like a real opponent? Instead of the child of a friend?"

Hayate stepped over to where Izo was, baring down at him and trying to intimidate Izo with his larger size. Izo hunched himself over, not looking up at first. Then, unexpectedly, he shot his right hand up, dragon included. Both of them gripped and tore at the mask covering Hayate's face. He had not been the first person to attempt that, but he certainly was the one successful at exposing Hayate's face. Hayate shouted in rage at him.

Hayate was done holding back after that. He reached behind Izo, wrapping his braid tightly around his hand. Next, he shoved Izo down to the ground and onto his stomach. His hand stayed on Izo's braid and held him by his neck. He rested his knee over Izo's lower back, ensuring he could not get up without having to pick Hayate up first.

"Stay down, Izo," Hayate told him in an authoritarian voice.

The count down resumed around them. "Get your hand off my hair first," Izo harshed up at him.

Hayate did as he was bid. His knee stayed on Izo's back though, pinning him down. When the count down finished, Hayate hauled Izo up from under his right shoulder. He guided Izo over to the transport that would take them from the fighting plane to the stadium and the healers' tent.


	8. Chapter 8

Except for the shoulder wound, Izo had been fine. When Nanashi went to him in the healers tent along with Hiei and Hikari. Hayate loomed there with them as Yukina healed him up.

At the sight of Hayate there, with dyed black hair, Nanashi felt the temptation to slap him rise up within her because of how he fought with Izo.

She tried not to let it be read on her face when she stepped over to him. "Hayate," she breathed. She reached her hand up and struck him as hard as she dared across his face.

Hiei came up behind her, pulling her from him. "Desist," he ordered her. "We're allies, remember?"

To Hayate's credit, he hardly reacted. Part of her thought he might have let her do it. "Nice to see you again, too. A shame that you have yet to visit us in the clan," he said coolly. "And what are you so pissed about? I hardly touched him," he nodded over to Izo. "Hardly injured," he smirked with half his smile. "He wanted to be treated like an equal contender, so I treated him that way."

Hikari, who had been standing there at the entrance to the tent stared up at Hayate blankly. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

Hayate turned his crooked smirk over to her. "You don't remember me?" he teased down at her. "Your brother did."

Hikari turned away from him, stepping over to where Izo sat, completely healed, next to Yukina. "What do you care?" she sassed, not really sure what else to say.

Izo put a hand on her forearm, subtly drawing her attention over to him. "He's the friend of father's I told you about. The hawk clan's leader. Hayate. Mother tolerates him because of father being his distant cousin."

She frowned at him. "But you said he was blonde," she commented. Nanashi did not like the way Hayate was looking at Hikari very much.

"It's dyed," Hiei called over to her. To Hayate he asked, "shouldn't you rest up? Your next match is against me."

"It is? You sound as if you already won against Yomi," Hayate responded. "An opponent killer. Did you see the match earlier where he impaled his opponent with his own arrow in the chest? A bit much. Wholly unnecessary. All you have to do is make sure your opponent can't stand for ten seconds rather than never again."

"Hn," Hiei grunted. "It's me you'll be fighting, not Yomi. So don't worry about him running you through with your sword." He sounded wholly confident that he could defeat Yomi without a doubt.

Silently, Nanashi thought to herself that she was not too sure.


	9. Chapter 9

Nanashi sat Izo next to her and Hikari right next to him. Kurama sat behind her with Yusuke and Kuwabara. Hiei's semifinal match against Yomi was about to start. She tried consciously not to tap her foot anxiously as they waited. Yomi had killed opponents in this tournament callously. He killed Yasha ten years ago by removing his hand and then making him bleed to death in the ring. Something that seemed to still hang over Kurama like a quiet shadow.

She could hear Yusuke and the others talking about Izo's reveal of Hayate's identity, but was only half listening. She wished that it was Hayate going up against Yomi right now instead.

She jumped when the match was announced and commenced. Hiei wasted no time drawing his sword and standing at the ready. Scrapes and bruises from his previous tournament matches marked his chest and torso. Her mate bite there was somewhere under all that. Yomi looked a bit beat up himself, but not as much as Hiei did. Hiei had not been training as much as he should have the last month. She regretted calling him back early once more, even if it was for Kaze's birth.

Hiei charged at Yomi, moving lightning fast. Nanashi resisted the desire to blink lest she miss anything. Hiei kept coming at Yomi and Yomi kept dodging him, light on his feet too. She just wanted Hiei to hit him, hard and fast, or to run him through before he got a chance to attack Hiei.

Hiei did manage, riskily, to break through his defenses and slice Yomi across the middle of his stomach. Just with the tip of his sword though. Hardly a mortal wound, though it bled shallowly. Hiei had been going for a disabling blow though. Yomi had backed off at the last second.

Yomi seemed to have grown tired of being chased around. With a shout, he gathered up energy in his hand, hurling it at Hiei in full force. Hiei dodged the first one with ease. The second one surprised him, but he dodged that one as well. The third and the fourth one too.

Yomi just kept sending the barrage of energy blasts at Hiei for him to dodge. It was overwhelming Hiei though, tripping him up. One did manage to catch him in the chest, sending him skidding across the rubble on the plane. Nanashi felt her breath catch in her throat, watching Yomi send a series of shots down at him, creating a billowing cloud of dust and smoke that no one could see through.

Before the dust settled, Hiei's mortal dragon charged out of it, straight at Yomi. It caught him head on, shoving him onto his back and setting his lower body ablaze. Once it had knocked him down, it flew away in release.

'He must be getting desperate,' Nanashi thought to her wind dragon. 'He's held back from using that dragon or the hellfire dragon during this tournament. Both tax his energy too much. He's afraid he'll be too weak for the next fight.'

'He might not think he can win otherwise,' the wind dragon thought back.

The dust finally settled around Hiei. He was standing up, panting heavily, and holding his sword in his left hand while flames puttered out on his right forearm. The mortal dragon was tamed, so it was not going to harm him. Not burns from it decorated his skin.

It had burned Yomi though, all down his lower abdomen and legs. He was smart enough to roll on the ground to put out the flames. The mortal dragon was from the Human World, so it was weaker than the hellfire dragon. The flames were less powerful, especially in a different world. The burns that were visible through the tears in his clothing looked like they hurt though.

"That was the wrong dragon to use on me if you truly wanted to win," Yomi called over to Hiei. "Were you planning on saving your stronger dragon for your friend in the finals?" Hiei did not give into the taunting, but rather passed his sword from his left hand back to his right hand. "You're not going to make to the finals," Yomi declared. "You're not going to live long enough to see him die too. Nor the impending destitution of your family and friends."

"What does he mean? What did that threat mean?" Hikari was asking over and over.

Kurama was saying something soothingly to her, but Nanashi could not hear what he was saying over the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears. 'He wouldn't,' she thought to the wind dragon, not believing herself.

Yomi started again with firing a barrage of energy blasts at Hiei. Hiei seemed extra annoyed with having to dodge them all over again. This time, he was slower. He was getting hit, only a few times at first, but more as the minutes dragged on. Each time he was struck, he cried out in a way that made Nanashi feel sick.

Yomi had stopped for a moment. Hiei was standing near the edge, shaking visibly. He half turned his head to look behind the edge of the plane.

"Jump," Izo whispered next to Hikari.

Hikari rounded on him for that. "Father wouldn't do that! That's a coward's way out!"

"Better alive and a coward than dead and courageous," Izo eked out.

"He's not going to die," Hikari insisted.

Nanashi kept watching the fight on the screen, wishing Hiei would jump and knowing he never would, no matter how tempted or desperate he was.

Hiei flicked his sword, turning to face Yomi. He charged over to him with as much speed as he could muster. He was so slow though compared to how he was earlier in the fight. Yomi shot at him, but he managed to dodge most of them. It was desperate and reckless charge.

When he got close enough to Yomi, Yomi finally made a move. Yomi managed to cut behind him as he drove for a killing blow. Once Yomi got behind him, he sent a blast into his lower back with crippling force.

Nanashi gasped, bringing her hands up to her mouth in shock. 'Please, no,' she thought to herself.

Hiei skidded and rolled across the ground a few good feet before he came to a halt. His lower back was bloodied and bruised, but Yomi had held back so much on the blast that could have easily shot right through him.

'Stay down,' she thought, begging Hiei silently. 'Pass out.' She groaned, watching him raise his head. Even just that was a struggle.

"What was that?" Izo asked looking over to his left. "I just saw someone or something take off from the stands."

He half way stood up before Yusuke pushed him back down. "Down in front," he muttered, eyes still trained on the screen.

Hiei stayed laying prone on the ground on his stomach. He was trying to push himself up, but stopped when he jarred his lower back. He let loose a strangled cry as his back shook painfully. Mercifully the ten count started. Nanashi wished it would go faster.

Yomi had stepped up to him, standing next to Hiei. "That wasn't supposed to be to kill you," Yomi told him. "Only cripple you. Yet I've seemed to fail at that."

The ten count was half way finished when Yomi stomped down on Hiei's lower back, finishing the crippling.

Nanashi stared in horror, hearing Hiei scream at that pain. The ten count needed to go faster. Crippling could be healed, but death could not be.

Yet before the ten count could end, Yomi grabbed Hiei by the back of the head, yanking him up into the air by the hair. His legs hung listlessly in the air as Yomi held him up. Hiei gripped his sword tightly in his right hand. Still, it did not take much effort for Yomi to yank it away.

"No," Nanashi whimpered. She did not want to watch anymore, but could not pry her eyes away.

Yomi held the tip of the blade against Hiei's neck. "Too fast," Yomi commented. He trailed the sword down until the tip hovered over the middle of Hiei's right thigh. "Too slow," he commented. "Besides, with your lower back broken, you wouldn't feel it anyway." Then, with an expedient flick of the wrist, he cut off Hiei's right hand at the wrist. "Perfect," he commented over the sound of Hiei's hoarse screaming.

"No!" Nanashi screamed, jumping to her feet. She could not watch anymore. She brought up her wind dragon around her neck, ready to summon it up to wings to fly up there and interfere with the fight. Before she could start that though, she felt strong arms lock tightly around her arms and torso. "Let me go!" she shouted at her unseen assailant.

"You can't," she heard Yusuke's voice tell her. He knew exactly what she had planned to do. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, but I can't." His breath caught in the back of his throat. "Yomi would kill you for trying. We can't lose you, too."

Yusuke's words confirmed what Nanashi tried to deny. Yomi was going to kill Hiei and there's was nothing she could do to stop it.

She screamed once more, raging and grieving at the same time. She released her wind dragon, hiding it away again. She felt Yusuke's arms grow slack around her. She turned to face him, hands coming to grip the front of his shirt and buried her face into his shoulder.

She could not breath, could not think, could not feel. All she could do was cry and try to deny what she knew was truly happening on screen behind her.

The sounds of a cacophonous explosion shocked her out of her misery. She looked up at the screen, blinking rapidly to get the tears out of the way of her vision. She saw Hayate hovering a few yards above Hiei and Yomi. He had both hawk wings on his back and a conjured bow and arrow in his hands. A crater had been blown into the ground right next to the two of them.

"Drop him," Hayate ordered with an alpha male's voice. "Or the next one goes through you."

Nanashi watched Hiei while they talked. He brought his left hand and his right stump together. Neither Yomi nor Hayate seemed to notice.

"You touch me and you're out of the tournament," Yomi countered, keeping his hold on Hiei. "I won't fight back. I won't even lift a finger to stop you. And I'll win."

Hiei summoned up his hellfire dragon, just enough to have a flame. He cauterized what was left of his right wrist, stopping the bleeding that could kill him. He gnashed his teeth at the pain. It would take a talented healer to reattached his hand to his wrist. If that healer messed it up, misaligned the veins or tendons, then the hand would have to be removed all over again and would be lost permanently. But he would live. That was all that mattered.

Yomi caught on by the sounds of Hiei's grunting and the smell of burning flesh. He swore impatiently at the sight of it. After doing all that, Hiei's eyes closed and his mouth went slack as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Hayate called his attention back to him. "I shoot you, here and now, and you will die," he boomed down. "You're died, while I'm disqualified. Then Hiei's king. I think I could live with that. His mate would make a good queen by his side."

Yomi growled wordlessly up at Hayate, adjusting his grip on Hiei's sword. He still had Hiei up by the hair and could run him through if he wanted to. Hayate caught on to that too. He shot an arrow at Hiei's sword, snapping the blade off of the hilt. All this while never touching neither Hiei nor Yomi.

"Stop interfering," Yomi growled up at him. He threw the now useless hilt up at Hayate, missing him with a wide berth.

"Did you mean to miss?" Hayate asked, teasingly. "Because it looked to me like you didn't."

Yomi turned to where Hiei's severed hand lay near by, stomping on it and grounding it onto the ground distastefully. After that, he kicked it away. Next, he tossed Hiei towards Hayate's direction. He landed on his side, not moving. The ten count restarted, Koto counting faster than she probably was allowed. The second the ten count was over, Hayate landed on the ground. He cringed as he picked up Hiei's mangled hand first, followed by picking up Hiei's body.

"I will kill you in our match," Yomi called over to him. "Then there will be no one to save him. Or his family. Or your clan now. I will be king, as I should have been years ago. I'm the last of three remaining kings. And I will restore this world and bring chaos where I see fit."

Hayate made no response as he took to the sky.

Nanashi slipped from Yusuke's arms, running at a dead sprint towards the healers' tents. She heard Hikari not far behind her. Last, she heard and saw Izo sprint past her, heading in the same direction.


	10. Chapter 10

Nanashi did not think she could have run as fast as she did just then. She kept trying to remind herself that Hiei was alive and his injuries, well major, could be healed or at least recovered from. But what if he could not shake them? That thought hung in her mind like an unwanted weed.

Izo out ran her about half way to the tent. She could hear Hikari panting behind her, but she did not slow down for her. As the three of them hit the stretch before the healing tent, she saw Hayate standing outside of the main tent where Hikari and Izo had been healed earlier. That had to be the tent Hiei was in because it would have been Hayate who brought him there. Hayate stood there with a shorter, but stocky blonde male demon and one of Minha's guards. The pretty one with long brown hair. Nanashi recalled that her name was Ayane. She also remembered like a side thought that Ayane was almost Hiei's mate once. She tried to check herself for the out of place jealousy she felt welling up in her.

When Izo reached the tent, Ayane went to stop him, but Hayate stopped her first. "No, let him in," Hayate told her. "His son is a healer. Minha will need all the help she can get right now." To Izo, he instructed, "keep your wits about you or leave the tent." Izo nodded briefly and politely before rushing inside the tent.

Nanashi reached them next. Ayane stopped her, grabbing her and locking her arms around her in a similar way to Yusuke earlier that hour. Nanashi struggled against Ayane as she pulled her back away from the tent. Her strength was impressive to say the least.

"Let me go," Nanashi demanded as she kicked and tried to pull away from her. Ayane was stronger than Nanashi realized.

Hikari had reached them by then. "Takashi," Hayate said, with a nod to the young, stocky, blonde demon with a long braid.

This Takashi grabbed at Hikari, catching her by the arm and tried to pull her over to him. "Get off of me," she demanded. She was actually managing to drag him behind her as she pulled against him.

"Stop," Hayate boomed down at her. Hikari turned to face him, freezing in mid-step. She seemed a little spooked by Hayate. "You both can go in there when Minha, Yukina, and now Izo are finished. Right now, they need to not be distracted since they have to heal his back injury and reattach his wrist. Both are complex injuries and our healers need to focus."

Hikari pulled herself away from Takashi, but otherwise, stayed there, standing limply. She looked like she could not figure out what else to do.

Nanashi stopped struggling against Ayane, going limp herself. Ayane let her go and stepped away from her. Nanashi dropped down to her knees without much effort. "You saved him," she thought out loud. "You didn't have to." She looked up at Hayate in that moment. "You could be disqualified for interfering like that. Yet you risked that for him." She felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude towards him with a dash of guilt for slapping him earlier over his fight with Izo.

"I was desperate," he admitted down to her. She gasped, making connections based on his words in her mind. He nodded down at her. "Hiei sought self preservation when he cauterized his wrist. Yomi was angry when he strove to kill Hiei brutally and painfully."

He stepped over her, offering his hand down to her. "Thank you," she managed to stutter out, taking his hand. She rose up and hugged him unabashedly. She felt a request hanging on the tip of her tongue, but she held it back with Hikari being close by.

Izo popped his head out of the tent. "We need Hikari," he dead panned. He looked paler, but more determined.

"Why?" Hikari asked as she went paler herself.

"You have the same blood type as Father. He needs a blood transfusion right away and you're the best candidate. I do too, but I need my strength to heal his back," Izo explained in a rush.

Hikari nodded stiffly and then followed Izo through the tent. Nanashi desperately felt the desire to follow Hikari, but understood why she should not.

When she felt sure Hikari was out of ear shot, she pulled away from Hayate. She looked up at him, requesting, "kill him." He looked at her, only half shocked by her request. "In the tournament. Kill Yomi. Please."

He sighed heavily, looking down at her. He brought his hands down to rest on the tops of her shoulders. "That's not the purpose of this tournament," he told hers softly. "I will not do that unless it's absolutely necessary."

She looked downcast, not sure what else to do or say. She felt exhausted just standing there. She walked over to the tent, and sat down by the edge of it. She brought her knees up in line with her chest and rested her forearms on them.

"I know this is a bad time," Hayate started. She looked up at him and kept her eyes on him as he sat down next to her in a mirror image position. "But that is my son, Takashi," he said, gesturing up at the blonde haired boy, no, young man, standing near Ayane.

"Pleasure to meet you, my lady," Takashi said with a polite bow to her. "I- I've never met a human before," he blurted out nervously. "I thought humans were weaker... Scrawnier..." Hayate clear his throat loudly next to her. "My apologies, my lady. Do excuse my rambling."

Nanashi looked up at Takashi. "Apology accepted," she said, not really sure what else to say him.

She glanced over at the silent Ayane. A sound demon. The one Mukuro had chosen for Hiei to mate claim, but Hiei took her instead. Nanashi wondered vaguely if Hiei had not taken her, then who would have? Yomi did want to mate claim her for the political advantage of it. Jin had been in love with her; might even be still. He and Ruka had skipped this tournament. Neither would have been much of a choice compared to Hiei for her though. According to Kurama, Yomi would have probably kidnapped her and taken her against her will. She shuddered involuntarily.

"What are you-" Hayate started asking a question, but stopped himself. He did not want to question her right now, nor force her answer any questions with his gunju influence that made people tell him the truth. "You look like you are thinking about something hard," he changed his words into a comment.

"I am," she groggily. She looked over at the closed flap of the tent, wishing it would open and Hiei would pop out.

She near jumped when Izo popped his head back out. "Mother," he said, closing the tent flap behind him and stepping over to her briskly. Nanashi near panicked at his tone and movements. He picked up on it as he kneeled next to him. "Sorry," he murmured. "Father is stable, but needs more healing. I'm healing his back while Aunt Yukina is assisting with the blood tranfusion from Hikari. Lady Minha is healing his hand back on. With his back, I need more spirit energy to do it. You haven't fought or anything today. I was wondering if I could have some of yours?"

Nanashi shot her hand out, reaching over and clasping Izo's firmly. Her wind dragon rushed down to her hand to help the process along. Izo gasped, nearly shaking at the feel of her energy rushing from her right into him. Nanashi transferred as much energy as fast as she could into him.

"Enough," Izo half panted, pulling at his hand ever so slightly to get her to stop. She and the wind dragon did so, letting him go. "Thank you," he said shakily. He rose up, going back into the tent determinedly.

Nanashi wanted to run into the tent after Izo, but stayed rooted to Hayate. "Do you want some energy too?" she asked half sheepishly. She held out her hand in offer. He did use his own energy in saving Hiei and she did have plenty left over.

Hayate shook his head, scooting away from her a little. "I'm not cheating in this tournament. Taking energy from someone else like that is a rule violation."

Nanashi frowned at him, adding, "so is interfering in other matches."

Hayate stared down at her ruefully. "I thought you were grateful for that. Interesting thing for you to become frigid about all of a sudden." She felt her nose twitch as she looked away from him and his guilt trip. "We both know had I not shot a crater in the ground nor Hiei's sword, Hiei would be dead right now. I did what I could without touching either of them purposefully so that I still have a chance to fight rather than be disqualified myself." He paused, as if waiting for her to say something. "Widowhood would not become you."

She could sense he was right, but did not want to admit that right now. Instead, she asked, "what happens if you are disqualified? Or you lose, and Yomi becomes king?"

Hayate took a terse sigh. "Flee to the Human World," he instructed her somberly. "Take your family and run. To Japan, Ireland, or wherever it is you go now."

"Northern Ireland," she corrected off topic.

"Same thing," Hayate shrugged off.

"No, it's not," she corrected.

"The point is," he turned the topic back on track. "I don't know exactly what Yomi plans, but I don't think his threat to kill Hiei or take away your lands, or whatever else he wants to do."

"He did threaten to kill you too," she added in.

"He won't succeed," Hayate said determinedly.

"Hiei said the same thing," Nanashi said somberly.

"If I get to fight him, I will try to win. And in the mean time, I will question him," he replied.

"Break his mind," Nanashi hissed in low, harsh whisper.

Hayate looked ready to say something, but caught himself when he heard the tent flap open. Izo came out, carrying a passed out Hikari in his arms in the princess carry. Yukina came out with him as well, leaving Hiei alone with Minha. Yukina closed the tent flap behind her.

Yukina explained, "Hikari is okay." As she spoke, Izo settled Hikari down on the her side near Nanashi. "She gave as much blood as she could. Izo has healed Hiei's back while Minha is still working on his hand. She asked for us to step out of the tent while she finishes."

Nanashi felt uncomfortable about Hiei being left alone with Minha. It did not end up being a long wait though. Within ten minutes, Minha opened the tent flap and told Nanashi she could come in. She stumbled a little bit, getting her feet untangled beneath her as she rushed her way passed Minha and into the tent.

Minha backed out of her way, going over to a counter at the back part of the tent. Nanashi half paid attention to what she was doing as she froze in the entrance of the tent, looking over at Hiei laying propped up on a cot near the left side of the tent. His hands lay on stomach. His eyes were closed, but he was breathing deeply and steadily. Every scrape and bruise that had decorated his body was healed away. She looked down at his right hand, seeing it reattached and no longer mangled. It was as if he never lost it nor had Yomi step on it.

She stepped over to him, barely breathing as it seemed to noisy to her. She reached her left hand over to grab his right hand, wanting to make sure it was there and it was real. She interlaced her fingers with his, feeling the warmth underneath his skin. She observed his skin, seeing no bruising, no bleeding, or anything else that showed the hand would not last its reattachment.

"He's hibernating right now, isn't he?" Nanashi asked over to Minha. She just wanted to make sure. "My lady," she added in respectfully.

Minha nodded over to her, stepping in front of the bag on the counter. "Yes, my lady," she added back respectfully. "He was half awake earlier when I was finished healing his hand. He was asking for you, which is why I called you in."

"Thank you," Nanashi breathed, not sure what else to say, but feeling like she should say more. "I don't know how I- we could ever repay you or your mate, otherwise... I... umm..." she hummed out the end of her sentence.

Minha nodded over to her. "Our fates, families, and territories are bound together. Besides, I would never let him die like a butchered hound. Ever." Her voice had a low, almost ominous tone. There was a chair over in the right corner of the tent. Minha grabbed and brought it over to Nanashi. "Sit down," she instructed. "I have a feeling that you're going to be waiting in here with him awhile.

"Thank you," Nanashi said numbly, feeling like she should say so much more.

Behind her, she heard Minha zipping up her bag, but she did not bother looking behind her. She kept herself focused on looking Hiei over, hoping he would wake up soon. She promised herself that if Yomi won against Hayate, be it in the ring or by disqualification, that she would get him, Minha, and their son out of the Demon World with her as well. It was a small price to pay for how they saved his life.


	11. Chapter 11

Minha had watched Hiei and Yomi's match alongside Hayate, with his identity now revealed, and their only child, Takashi and her solo guard Ayane. It was... gruesome to watch from there stand point at the very back of the stands. Most of the fight, Hayate, snarled and made sharp comments about Yomi's brutality.

When Yomi had shot Hiei in the back and sent him rolling across the grounds, Hayate growled furiously. While Hiei struggling to try to stand, Yomi was advancing on him with a cruel, yet determined look on his face. That must have been the point where Hayate could not handle it anymore. He conjured up a set of hawk wings and flew away from them in a rush before Minha could say anything to stop him. All she got to do was watch him interfere in Hiei and Yomi's match. On one hand, she was angry at him for interfering as it would cost them everything and he would be disqualified. He would never be king if he was disqualified. On the other hand, he had saved Hiei's life in an act of desperation. Yet that left Yomi open to becoming king.

As soon as the ten count started, Minha beckoned for Ayane and Takashi to come with her, running with her at her pace to the healing tent that held Hiei's sister, Yukina. Hayate knew that to, so this was where he would take Hiei after the fight. Minha confidently realized that she would be one of the few healers who fully heal the removed hand, so she needed to be in this tent and in charge by the time Hayate got there.

Hayate arrived with an unconscious Hiei into tow at the same time as the three of them. Minha took charge immediately, ordering Takashi and Ayane to stand guard of the tent. Next, she had Hayate bring Hiei into the tent and lay him on his stomach flat on the cot. Yukina seemed baffled by their sudden entrance into the tent. Minha took charge of her before the ice demoness could think twice. Minha had her set to healing Hiei's back Minha mentally steeled herself to heal his hand. She sent Hayate out of the tent, ordering him to not allow anyone in the tent who was not another healer or could be helpful to stay out and not distract them.

Minha set to healing the severed hand first, trying not to let the fact of what it actually was to shake her. Healing cold tissue was harder than warm tissue. Took more time and focus. The hand needed to be set right before reattached.

The second Minha had finished that, Izo, Hiei's tall, ice demon, son stepped into the tent. He said that Hayate sent him. Minha instructed him to help his aunt to heal Hiei's back. Minha was unsure how good of a healer either one of them was, but two healers reattaching a severed spinal cord was better than one.

Izo did not listen though. He commented on how pale his father was, unnaturally so. He checked his father over, declaring he need blood, immediately. Minha told him to fetch his twin sister. She set Hiei's hand down next to his wrist. Once he had more blood in him, she could begin healing it back on. Keeping him from dying from blood loss was something she should not have overlooked.

Minha was only half surprised that his sister, Hikari was waiting just outside the tent. So was their mother, Nanashi, but Izo only had Hikari come in.

Hikari came in with Izo, gasping at the sight of her father unconscious. Izo pulled her over to him, making him look at her instead. He spoke to her soothingly, explaining what she needed to. Yukina stepped over to her, pulling her to the other side of the tent. She took care of getting the blood needed for Hiei from her, slipping the small needle attached to an empty bag in her arm. As soon as the bag was full, it could be transferred to Hiei.

With Yukina doing that, Izo went back over to Hiei, healing his back by himself now. Minha told them all that they needed to be absolutely quiet as she was about to begin the process of reattaching his hand. She felt like she should not delay it any longer.

Minha focused solely on that, hardly paying attention to the others in the room, hardly thinking about anything else besides reattaching the hand; ligament by ligament, muscle by muscle, bone by bone, blood vessel by blood vessel, and skin by skin. One wrong move here and the hand would be lost to him forever. His decision to burn his wrist to save his life was not helping her any, even though it did save his life.

Minha had not realized that Izo left the tent and took a quick moment to be surprised that he reentered the tent with a quick explanation of getting more energy from his mother.

She was nearly finished when she heard noise behind her. Hikari had filled up her bag of blood, but passed out afterwards. Minha watched as Yukina caught her, easing her down to lay on the ground. Then she brought the bag over to Hiei's left side, setting up the IV for it, and slipped the needle into his arm. The blood began to flow into him, bringing color back under his skin.

Minha turned back to his hand, trying not to rush herself as she healed him. If she messed it up, the new blood in his system would soon show her where her mistake may lie. Yet even after the bag was emptied inside of him, there was no sign of a mis-attachment.

Finished reattaching his hand, studying it carefully, centimeter by centimeter. She searched for any flaws the might have missed that would lead to the loss of the hand. It felt warm in hers. She turned it so she could studying his palm, tracing the lines in it absentmindedly. She went over each finger, bending each knuckle. She jumped slightly when she made one pop. The hand was reattached and healed perfectly. She smiled inwardly at her handiwork, proud at how well she did it.

Now that that was over, she thought to herself about papers she had for him in her bag. The blood bond treaty they could sign together, binding her son and his daughter to a marriage contract. If she got the chance, she would try to get him to sign it. But not with the others here.

She noticed he was grunting in his sleep, shifting his legs restlessly. She also noticed Izo had finished healing his back and clearly succeeded with how his legs were shifting. Izo was a talented healer as well.

Minha asked for Izo to turn him over. Izo did so delicately. She noticed Hiei was starting to stir. Feigning the need to finish healing his hand, she instructed Izo and Yukina to leave the room and to take Hikari out with them.

Once the tent was closed, she acted. She dug in her bag, pulling out the blood bond treaty that neither of them had signed yet. She laid it under his right hand. Hiei was stirring, eyes half open. She reached over to his right hand, pricking his index finger with the small knife she had sheathed at her hip. He was blinking up at her after that. He looked drowsy, like he was trying to fight the desire to hibernate here and now. She needed him awake, just long enough to write his name.

"Sign this," she breathed the order, trying to quench the guilty feeling welling up in her. The marriage alliance would be a good one. For them, their families, and the whole Demon World. They all were tangled together by fate, so this had to be fated as well. It had to happen. She could make it happen.

"Nishi," he mewed out the name of his mate.

"Sign this, and I will go get her," Minha promised him.

He did. He closed his eyes first, but he did sign it. Did not even look at it as he sprawled his name in his blood. Minha took it away and set it on the table at the back of the tent to dry. She look down at it hard for a few moments, unable to bring herself to prick her own finger and sign it in blood herself. She could not bring herself to do it. Without her signature, the treaty was null and void. She picked up the paper and tore it in half. Then quarters. Then eighths. She stuffed it in her bag, planning to burn it to destroy any evidence of its existence soon. If Hikari and Takashi were truly destined to be together, betray was not the way to go about it.

Minha then went to the door of the tent, beckoning Nanashi in to see Hiei, pointing out that he had asked for her. The human was sitting near Hayate at the front of the tent. She stood up in a rush to get into the tent. Minha backed out of her way and stood in front of the bag and the papers while Nanashi looked over first at her and then at Hiei. Minha adjusted the bag ever so slightly, making sure its contents were not noticeable to Nanashi.

Like a silent shadow, Nanashi stepped over to where Hiei lay. she examined his right hand carefully, checking Minha's handiwork. She interlaced her fingers with his with gentle precision. She looked over at Minha. "He's hibernating now, isn't he... my lady?" Nanashi asked him.

"Yes, my lady," Minha replied softly "He was half awake earlier when I was finished healing his hand. He was asking for you, which is why I called you in."

"Thank you," Nanashi hummed out. "I don't know how I- we could ever repay you or your mate, otherwise... I... umm..." she hardly seemed able to speak.

Minha nodded over to her. "Our fates, families, and territories are bound together. Besides, I would never let him die like a butchered hound. Ever." She felt a flurry of anger at Yomi building up in her. She hoped Hayate would kill him in the tournament.

Her voice had a low, almost ominous tone. There was a chair over in the right corner of the tent. Minha grabbed and brought it over to Nanashi. "Sit down," she instructed. "I have a feeling that you're going to be waiting in here with him awhile." She felt pity for the human welling up in her and how she nearly lost her mate in such a brutal way.

"Thank you," Nanashi murmured through clumsy lips.

"You're welcome, my lady," she told her politely. "I will see if I can send a television or screen or something for you to watch Hayate's match."

"If it still happens," Nanashi murmured, lacking confidence.

"I'm about to go take care of this next," Minha said with a heavy sigh. She grabbed her bag and held it close. "Hayate shouldn't be disqualified from his match. The match should have been over by the time Yomi broke Hiei's back. And now, if you'll excuse, I'm going to go talk to some people who get to make that decision and convince them of just that."

Minha left the tent after that, calling Hayate, Ayane, and Takashi after her. She hoped it was not too late to convince the tournament committee to let Hayate continue on in the tournament.


	12. Chapter 12

"How exactly did Lady Minha convince the tournament committee to let Hayate fight in the finals?" Hikari asked in her roost on the ground in the tent. It was not the first time she asked Nanashi that question. "I mean, I thought for sure he would be disqualified for saving Father. Not that I'm complaining about that or anything." She was tired and pale and grouchy now. Likely could use some food, but refused it when it was offered her earlier. She did have a tendency to get hangry.

Nanashi shrugged. "I don't know," she told her tiredly.

She looked over at Izo, who was setting up the TV for them to watch Yomi and Hayate's match on. Minha had been sure to send it to them. She seemed to know how to do everything. Save Hiei and his hand, keep her mate in the tournament, and who knew what else. Maybe she should be queen of the Demon World after all.

There had been a three hour delay from when Hiei and Yomi's match ended and up to now, right before Yomi and Hayate's match was about to start. Hiei was still hibernating; likely could do that for at least three more hours. He did hibernate for six hours after his final match of the Dark Tournament all those years ago.

The TV screen in front of them blinked on, showing Hayate and Yomi standing across from each on the best plane available. The trees on it were reduced to rubble, but there were no holes or craters in the ground. Yet.

Koto's voice echoed over the match, rehashing that Hayate had not been disqualified since he never touched Yomi or Hiei and also that when he did interfere in their fight, it was clear that Yomi had been the winner.

Without further ado, Koto called for the match to begin. Hayate drew his large sword with a flourish; holding it out in front of him. "Are you ready?" he called out to Yomi. Nanashi felt a spur within her chest at the fact that Hayate was already starting to question him.

Yomi narrowed his eyes at him, answering, "of course."

He delayed in answering. Nanashi hoped that would cause him to start having a head ache. Hiei had told her about the time he first met Hayate and ended up questioned him. It started with a headache, could lead to a stomach ache, and if it took long enough, a broken mind.

Hayate charged over at him, asking, "are you certain?"

Yomi growled under his breath. "I told you, yes."

Hayate reached Yomi, trying the same way to overwhelm as Hiei did in his match with Yomi. That seemed like a dangerous move to Nanashi. Yomi jumped away while Hayate swung and hacked and hammered aggressively. He really wanted to take him out. Nanashi hoped it would be permanently.

While Hayate chased Yomi around the plane, he questioned him. "Why do you want to be king?" Hayate asked.

Yomi struggled with that one, unable to give a sly or sarcastic answer. "I'm the last remaining from the three kings living. It should be me."

"What will you do if you are king?"

"Reign."

"How?"

"The way I see fit."

"How do you see fit?"

"Urgh..." Yomi struggled, trying not to speak, distracted. Hayate took the chance and struck Yomi in the face with the broad side of his sword like it was baseball bat rather than a sword.

"I hope he broke his jaw," Hikari grumbled out distemperedly.

Yomi backed away from Hayate, spitting out three teeth from his mouth. Hayate struck him over the back of the head. Nanashi hoped that would have knocked him out.

Yet when Hayate went to strike him a third time, Yomi wretched himself around and grabbed the sword with his hands. "I will repeal the anti human eating ban on the world. They breed like they are going extinct, so if any demon wants to feast on them, they should be allowed to do it. Rather than mate and breed with one."

Hayate held his sword steady between the two of them, biting hard into Yomi's already bleeding hands. "You don't approve of hucking?" he asked questioningly.

Yomi gnashed his teeth. "Absolutely not."

Hayate stared down at Yomi, almost surprised at his answer. "Didn't you once want to mate claim Nanashi Urameshi?"

Yomi growled at him, answering, "yes."

"Why did you want her then?"

"Political reasons," Yomi hissed out. "Back then, she was several influential men connected to her. Kurama, Yusuke, Hiei, and even the Spirit World Prince, Koenma. If I had had her as a mate, I would have pulled the four of them into an alliance with me. Think of what I could have done by pulling them into an alliance with me under the threat of harming her if they didn't."

"So not love then?" Hayate sneered down at him.

"Foolish emotion," Yomi sneered right back. "You're not a demon who lives very long, are you? If you were one like me who could live over a thousand years, you would not get bogged down by trivial emotions." Yomi took a wider stance and brought his knee up to Hayate's lower stomach, just above his hips.

That caught Hayate off guard, knocking the wind out of him. Yomi took the chance and tore Hayate's sword out of his hands with his own bloody ones. He turned it around and plunged it into Hayate's left side. He ran Hayate straight through, the sword poking out his back on the other side. Hayate roared out loud, holding Yomi's hands on his sword hilt so that the later demon could not pull it out of him.

Nanashi felt like the calm before a storm settled over her soul. She wished she knew where Minha and her son Takashi were at this moment. Likely watching the tournament somewhere in the stands. She wondered if she would have time to find them and get herself and her family out of the Demon World. She wished she had brought Kaze with them after all. She had no idea if she would have time to go get him, too. She did not want to leave him behind. Could not imagine ever being separated from him like that so suddenly.

Izo jumped up from his seated position next to Hikari, running out of the tent like a man on a mission. Both Nanashi and Hikari called after him, but he ignored the both of them. Nanashi felt a chill when a gust of air rattled the tent that he had left open. Nanashi thought about getting up and closing the tent flap, but was unwilling to move out of sight on the screen.

Hikari gave her a questioning look, sitting herself up a little straighter. "Stay here," Nanashi instructed her. If things went south fast, Nanashi wanted her nearby. Izo could manage himself, but Hikari had a tendency to be brash and overestimate herself. She might try to attack Yomi if she saw an opening to do so. Nanashi wanted her nearby.

Nanashi turned her attention back to the screen. Hayate held fast to Yomi's hands that held his sword sheathed in his left side. The wound was bleeding from both sides. His face was sweaty and pale.

Hayate heaved his chest, asking, "do you still think you can win?"

"Yes," Yomi growled up at the slightly taller demon before him. Yomi twisted the sword as much as Hayate would allow him, making Hayate groan loudly in agony. "I think that answers your question."

Shakily, Hayate raised his right hand off of Yomi's hands and rested it heavily on Yomi's shoulder. He gulped down a handful of struggled breaths. Then he conjured up a knife from his own spirit energy and brought in down on the top left side of Yomi's chest. Yomi let his own ragged scream in response to that.

"Do you still think you can win while drowning in your own blood?" Hayate stuttered out. He took a wider stance on his unsteady feet. Nanashi wondered silently if he could stay standing much longer.

It was Yomi's turn to groan aloud. That and then start to choke and cough up blood. "Yes," he coughed. "I just have to out last you."

It was hard to watch. Which ever one of them fell first would lose. Hayate kept asking questions. "Have you ever drowned before?"

"No," Yomi wheezed out. Nanashi noticed the wound on his chest began to bubble around the knife.

"How does it feel to drown?" Hayate asked back.

Yomi coughed and hacked, unable to answer right away. "Hard to breathe," he rasped out.

Hayate drove the knife deeper, making Yomi gasp when he likely wanted to scream or shout. "Don't you think you should give in?"

"N- n- n- maybe. But never," Yomi choked out. Frothy blood covered his lips.

Hayate swayed on his feet, he started to lean his weight against Yomi. Hayate moved his mouth, but no sound came out. He could not question if he could not speak.

"Maybe they'll kill each other," Hikari commented. "Both of those wounds look pretty serious."

Nanashi hoped Hayate could outlast Yomi. Yomi could barely breathe; gasping, choking, and being all air hungry. Both would need a healer immediately based on those wounds. Hayate looked like he was ready to collapse. It only took another minute for him to fall on top of Yomi, bring them both down to the ground.

Hayate was on top of Yomi's right side, sword still in him. Yomi definitely was not going to be able to breath with Hayate laying on top of his right side while there was a gaping, bubbling hole at the top of his left lung. He seemed to hardly be breathing.

Hayate rolled off of Yomi, bringing himself down on his back. He was trembling as he tried to pull the sword out of his side. He roared in pain, hardly being able to pull it out half way before he gave up, letting it slide back into him.

"Get up," Nanashi said aloud.

Hayate tried to push himself up to a sitting position, but could only get his upper back off of the ground. Yomi was still on his back, chest hardly moving.

Neither demon was going to be able to stand. The ten count was booming out for both of them. When it ended, neither of them stood up. Hayate lay there with a puddle of blood pooling under his back while Yomi lay much too still.

The fight could not be deemed a draw. Koto took a few precious seconds off of the microphone, deliberating with any tournament committee members that must have been nearby. Nanashi waited on bated breath, keeping her eyes locked on Hayate. His hands rested feebly on the middle of his sword, unable to do much more than that.

Koto did not waste anymore time when she announced that Hayate was declared the winner since he was the one who was still conscious and moving. Nanashi breathed the deepest sigh of relief at that, that Hayate won, not Yomi.

The second after the announcement was made, Nanashi looked up on the screen, seeing Izo on the back of his ice dragon flying down towards the two injured demons. When his dragon landed, he summoned it away, hitting the ground running. He sprinted over to Hayate first.

"What is he doing?" Hikari asked, frowning at the sight of her brother next to Hayate.

"What are you doing?" Hayate asked Izo as he knelt down beside him.

Izo said nothing, but he reached down and yanked Hayate's sword from his side. Hayate roared hoarsely at that. He was still screaming when Izo began to hurriedly heal his side before he could bleed out.

When he finally stopped screaming, Hayate started to yell at him. "No! No! Heal him first!"

"You first, your grace," Izo responded, voice sounding tight.

Izo kept healing Hayate, even as Hayate kept yelling at him to go help Yomi. Izo's face was cold and focused solely on saving Hayate's life. When Hayate was almost fully healed, minus some apparent bruising on his side and back, he shoved Izo away hard, shouting at him to go help Yomi before he drowned in his own blood.

Izo listened that time. He turned to Yomi, looking suddenly unsure of himself. He brought his hands down on the top of Yomi's chest, but one second later, he brought his hands up, recoiling away from Yomi. He reached down to Yomi's wrist, pressing his fingers firmly on the inside of his wrist. He shook his head. He then reached over to the side of Yomi's neck, pressing on it. He shimmied his way back and away from the dead body in front of him. Hayate kept asking him what was wrong and then ordering him to heal Yomi no matter what.

Izo finally told him what Hayate had been trying to deny, "he's dead."

Hayate kept shouting and berating both of them, refusing to believe what Izo figured out first. He shoved Izo away from Yomi's body, railing on it with his fists, as if trying to awaken him from the dead. Then he kept saying over and over again that he didn't mean to kill him. In the end, he sat down and hunched over, arms wrapped around his middle. He cried openly and loudly; grieving over becoming an opponent killer.

That was the new king of the Demon World.


	13. Chapter 13

Hiei woke up, surprised by what to catch the immediate events after Yomi and the large demon's match on the screen in the tent he was in with Nishi and his girl. He stared, hardly comprehending the scene of the large demon hunched over and crying, her boy standing near him with an unreadable expression on his face, and a much still Yomi laying on the ground.

"He won," Hiei said hoarsely. It looked like the large demon won, but why in the world was he sobbing? And how did his boy end up with them? The match must have been over at least.

Both Nish and his girl turned there heads away from the screen and to him when he spoke. "He did," Nishi said softly right next to him.

His girl stood up, coming right up next to Nishi. "He killed Yomi. Made him drown in his own blood and broke his mind by questioning him."

Hiei looked from his girl to Nishi, silently asking for more context. Nishi explained more, "Hayate didn't mean to kill Yomi, which is why he's so upset. Izo... flew up there... somehow on his ice dragon... I'm not sure how he did that... ice demons can't fly and I never taught him that... Yomi had run Hayate through with his own sword. Izo healed him immediately after the ten count ended, even though he wanted him to heal Yomi first. I don't know when Yomi died, but it was before Izo tried to heal him..." Her words seem to come from numb lips.

Hiei turned his head forward, blinking. He suddenly remembered his right hand. He looked down at it hesitatingly. It was still there, like it had never been removed. He raised it up tentatively. He examined his wrist closely, running his left fingertips gingerly over his wrist. There was no scar, no mark, nor trace of its previous removal or burns. He flexed his fingers and twisted his wrist around. He cracked the knuckles on it testily. The pops that came from the sound seem to ring loudly throughout the tent.

"Who healed me?" Hiei asked. He looked over at the screen. It had gone dark. The match was officially over.

"Minha," Nishi breathed. "She healed your hand while Yukina and Izo healed your back-"

"And I gave you blood. And Mother gave Izo more energy," his girl butted in.

"Team effort," Nishi said like an afterthought. It was a sarcastic remark, but not one laughed.

Hiei sat himself up on the cot, still feeling a bit exhausted from his fight with Yomi. He swung his legs over the edge of the cot, ready to stand up.

He stilled himself when her boy came into the tent, fully composed, but with his head down. His hands were still red from the blood from having healed the large demon and attempting to heal Yomi earlier. The second the tent flap closed however, he lost all of his composure. He broke down in his own puddle of tears. He stumbled over to Nishi in a rush, crying freely.

"Mother," was all he could manage to choke out.

Nishi pulled him in close. His head came to rest on her shoulder. Her hand gently reached up to the top of his, stroking his hair gently. Nishi looked back over to Hiei, cocking her head to motion for him to stand up. He did so, numbly, stepping out of the way.

Nishi guided her boy so she could sit down on the cot and hold him. Her boy clung to her, crying like a infant. He kept trying to speak, but only managed a few words between sobs. He kept trying to say he did not want the large demon to die, just like the large demon had not let Hiei die. He also tried to say he chose to help the king first. He also questioned as to whether or not he was wrong to not let Yomi die.

Her boy slipped his head down into Nishi's lap. He had calmed down quickly, which was impressive. He was still crying quietly now. His hand clung to her thigh though. Nishi continued to stroke his hair soothingly, saying nothing. She was waiting patiently for her boy to calm himself down. When he was younger and would cry like this over something, Nishi would calm him down like this. She let him cry it out. When his girl was younger, she would cry more than her boy ever did. She had also been louder and cried over both the silliest things and the serious things. So seeing her boy at age fourteen cry like this was pretty severe for him.

Her boy settled down, having stopped crying now, but his eyes were closed and he was breathing deeply. If he was not sleeping now, he would be soon. Hiei took a moment to be amazed at how calmly and gently Nishi handled her boy's response to the events that had just happened.

Nishi finally spoke, in softest of voices, "it's not your fault. You made the best choice you could."


	14. Chapter 14

Mother did not understand anything. Ever. The tournament was over and the new king, that crying demon who was Father's friend had summoned all of the leaders of the various territories of the Demon World together. Usually Mother was insistent that Hikari was not ready to undertake any official leadership roles for Alaric until she was older. That Father should do that in her place. Yet now Mother insisted Hikari go to the meeting with the king. It made no sense. Hikari figured Mother knew she did not want to go to the meeting, so that was why she was making her go. Small favors that Father convinced her to let him go with her since he was in charge of Alaric until Hikari came of age.

Hikari was quiet and sullen as she and Father journeyed to the meeting room with the new king. She hoped he would not cry in front of her. She really hoped he would not cry. It was bad enough seeing him cry and yell at Izo on screen, she definitely did not want to see it up close and personal. What if he yelled at her for something she did or say? Or even just for her being in the room with all those mature, adult demon leaders of the other territories. She was currently the only underage leader in the Demon World. It was an odd position to be in.

Hayate, no, King Hayate, had finally stopped grieving over killing Yomi. It took the better part of three days though. He had washed the black dye out of his hair and had his long, natural blonde hair pulled back into a thick, fishtail braid. He looked tired, but authoritative.

When Hikari and Father arrived in the meeting room, they were the last to arrive. Ruefully, Hikari thought Father could have been on time if Mother had not bothered insisting Hikari be there, even though she had insisted she did not want to go.

King Hayate sat at the head of the table with filled seats of the other Demon World leaders around the long, rectangular table. The new prince, Prince Takashi sat on King Hayate's immediate left. The two remaining open seats were right next to the king, between him and the new leader of Gandara, Shura. Shura looked about the same age as Hikari, but she knew him to be older than she was. He hardly seemed to age, Father had once said. Shura, and his father, were demons who lived centuries so long as they were not killed off. Shura was clone/son of Yomi, so he could live for centuries, too, if he was careful.

Hikari felt like she was breathing too loud, with a cold sweat trickling down the back of her neck and the insides of her palms. She felt like every single demon in the room could tell, or smell, how she was feeling right now.

Father waited for her to lead the way. Trying to remember to breathe through her nose and not her mouth, Hikari walked briskly over to the seat closest to Shura and sat down. She did not look up at anyone or anything in the room. She felt like she was sitting too close to Shura, but did not dare scooch her chair farther away for fear of making noise and drawing anymore attention to herself.

Father sat next to her and to King Hayate's right. There were papers and a pen set in front of both of them, but even as Hikari read and reread the first page, she could not figure out what any of it said or meant. She did not turn from the first page for fear of making a sound that would draw the gaze of another demon in the room down on her; especially King Hayate's.

Hikari jumped embarrassingly when King Hayate's voice boomed out for the start of the meeting. She looked up at him, but only at his chest so there was no chance at making eye contact. She would look like she was paying attention without drawing attention to herself or cause her to get called on to speak. If it could work with her mean teachers in school, then it had to work for King Hayate. She hoped.

Hikari tried to follow what King Hayate was saying and explaining, even tried to turn the pages in time with Father. Hikari watched out of the corner of her eye when Father took notes, face unreadable. She could hardly read his scribble without turning her head away from her own papers. She felt like she should be taking notes, too, so by the third page, she started to. Yet her notes were just a catch of one or two phrases King Hayate had said. She knew she must have missed things that were significant.

Hikari felt herself panic when they reached the last page, a draft of a blood bond treaty for her. She sideways glanced at Shura's paper and then Father's. Both had the same one too. This one she read over thoroughly. An oath of fealty to the new king and accept that the role of the King's Steward, as the competitive role for the world now instead of the king. The king would now be a hereditary role. The oath required them to accept it or forfeit their lands and titles. If they did not sign it, they would automatically lose their lands and titles. Hikari had no clue what to do, but felt Father would advise her to sign it.

As Hikari looked over the pen, noticing it had a sharp tip capped on the other side. She uncapped the pen, ready to prick her finger. Surely there was no risk she get a blood born illness after one little prick of her finger. Mother would have thought otherwise.

Hikari froze, unable to help but look up as some of the demon leaders in the room speak up in outrage over the treaty. She stayed her hand, watching everything and everyone carefully. King Hayate was being civil, even as a few other demons were shouting at him.

Hikari watched out of the corner of her eye that Shura pricked his finger and signed the paper quietly. Hikari glanced back over at Father. Father silently and discreetly pushed her paper down towards her, hinting nonverbally for her to sign it. Hikari pricked her finger, hiding away her desire to flinch when she did it. She hoped she would not get an infection from it. Mother would have insisted she clean it, but she felt like a prick would not be that big of a deal. She signed the paper quickly and then pushed it away from her.

The angry demons were still arguing with King Hayate. King Hayate took it like a stone wall, unemotionally. He dismissed them calmly. How could this man be so calm right now, but so emotional when he killed Yomi?

Father grabbed her paper from her in a rush and passed it to King Hayate. That drew attention to her, much to her dismay. King Hayate commented that Alaric's leader was willing to sign the treaty, being young and half human. She tried not to look frightened or intimidated. She hid her hands under the table, fidgeting with them and the hem of her shirt. Shura passed her his paper. She was unsure what to do with it at first. Father grabbed it from out in front of her and passed it to King Hayate. That turned the attention away from her and onto Shura thankfully. King Hayate told the other leaders that if they did not agree to sign like the two of them did, they could leave.

Leave a few of them did, angrily. Hikari wondered what the outcome of their actions would be. She looked down, deciding she did not want to know.

Everyone else is the room signed and passed their papers over to King Hayate. Hikari watched out of the corner of her eyes to see how the other demons who signed their treaties reacted. Some of them were hard to read.

After that, all but Hikari, Father, Shura, and Prince Takashi were dismissed by King Hayate. Hikari wished she could leave, too.

King Hayate turned to Hikari just then, "Lady Hikari," he addressed her. She looked up at him nervously. "Have you seen the rose gardens out in the yard at this castle? Apparently the former queen really enjoyed them." She stared at him, possibly a little to long, before shaking her head. He turned to Prince Takashi, who himself looked sullen and grumpy. "Takashi, why don't you take her to see the rose gardens?"

"I don't know where they are," Prince Takashi retorted.

King Hayate responded, "you saw them yesterday with your mother." King Hayate was a little short with him over that.

"I don't remember where that is," Prince Takashi responded, just as short with his father. Hikari could not imagine being that rude to Father over such a simple conversation.

King Hayate turned to him, telling him firmly and slowly, "ask one of the staff to show you the way." Prince Takashi did not respond, but did not move at all. "Is she going to have to lead you all the way there instead?" King Hayate was almost growling when he said it.

Father tapped/kicked Hikari softly under the table with his foot on her foot. She jumped a little, moving to stand up noisily. She did so, stepped around, and pushed in her chair quickly. She kept her hands on the top of her chair though, not sure what else to do. She looked over to Prince Takashi, waiting for him to stand up, too. He growled under his breath, kicking his way out of his chair and headed for the door without bothering to push his chair in first. He was so rude that Hikari did not want to follow after him. She did anyway, because she knew Father and King Hayate expected her to. She left the room calmly and quickly, shutting the door nicely behind her.

When she left the room however, she had to sprint after Prince Takashi in his wave of unexpected grumpiness with her.

He rounded on her silently when she caught up to him. He stared down at her from their height difference ruefully.

When he did not say anything, she asked him, "so how much farther?" She did her best not to appear intimidated by him.

He hissed under his breath, turning away from her and walking off. This time he moved at a more leisurely pace that she did not have to jog or run to keep up with.

She was half surprised that he actually did lead her to the rose garden. "There it is," he told her in a lack luster tone. He gestured over to it without much emphasis. "I should you. Now go see it."

Hikari looked over at it the rose garden. It was a widely expansive area for the garden. It housed more than just roses, too. Yet roses were the dominate plant she could both see and smell. There was a fountain dead center. Two other demon couples were in the garden as well, but at the far end. Hikari could not make out what they looked like from so her vantage point at the front end of the garden.

Hikari started to walk a few steps into the garden, but stopped when she realized Prince Takashi was not following her. "Come on," she said to him, not really sure what his problem was.

"I was told to show you, and I did," he said, arms crossed over his chest. He did not seem willing to move one more foot.

"What your problem?" she asked, half trying not to let her tone have a bit to it.

He stared down at her, hard, looking as if he debated even talking to her anymore. He clicked his tongue against his teeth. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen," she responded, not sure what he meant. She noticed he seem older than her, about nineteen or twenty for a human. Then again, he was a demon, so he had to have been much older than that really.

"Young. For both of your races," he gritted.

"Older than you act," she responded with a spark of fire in her voice.

His nose twitched at her. "Do you know what this is meant to be?" He gestured over to the garden with his hand.

"A garden," she responded. "Apparently not a very good one if it's got your leg all in a knot."

"Huh," he sighed at her. "Use your brain. A male and female demon walking together in a romantic garden. What do you think is supposed to happen?"

She stared up at him, almost dumbstruck when the realization hit her. "I... a date...?" she questioned.

She felt a little unprepared; unaware of what this was supposed to be. Did Father know what it was supposed to be? Would he have sent her off like that if he did?

"Yes, a date," he snapped down at her. "With a child..."

She took offense to that. "I'm and not a child," she snapped up at him. She stepped back over to where he stood, coming to stand right in front of him. Too close for her comfort, so it would be the same for him now. She looked him up and down ruefully. "I fought in the tournament. I bet I could take you."

He side stepped and then back away from her. "You lost to your brother almost immediately. You're a young, foolish child if you think that you would last much longer against me."

"I fought in the tournament, you didn't," she pointed out. "I bet you were too scared, so that's why you didn't fight."

"I would have fought if I had been allowed," he growled over to her.

She picked up on that. "Why weren't you allowed to fight? Did daddy tell you not to?"

He wrinkled his nose and stood up straighter. "I'm sole heir to the Hayato clan, and now it seems to the Demon World. I'm much too important to risk in tournament where I could die."

"You're much too full of yourself," she thought out loud. "Come on," she said, drawing herself into a fighting stance. "Let's spar. I promise not to kill you," she suggested.

"You'll only end up hurt and possibly crying," he told her dismissively. He walked over to a nearby wooden bench and slumped himself down on it.

She stomped over to him, standing in front of him. She felt her eye prickle, but she ignored it so he would not notice it. "I would not," she said, stomping her feet by his foot for good measure.

"You look ready to cry right now," he accused.

She was ready to shut him up, and words seemed like they were not going to work anymore. She punched him in the shoulder.

"Don't start what you won't be able to finish," he warned her in much too soft a tone to be taken seriously.

She punched him again, this time on the other shoulder. He stood up and shoved her hard on her on the shoulders. She fell back on the ground on her backside. He stood over her, looking like a mean dog more than anything in that moment. She kicked him in the shin stubbornly.

She rushed herself to her feet. She jumped at him, trying to tackle him. She failed miserable, but she did get him to engage her in a fight. It ended up with the two of them fighting throughout the front of the garden.

She had no clue how long she had been fighting with him before she felt someone else come up behind and yank her away from Prince Takashi.

"Oi, let go!" she shouted as she watched Prince Takashi get pulled away by his mother's guard. Ayane she thought her name was.

Hikari rounded on the person holding her, slamming her fists against this person's upper arm. Too late did she realize it was Mother... She felt like all the blood had drained from her body.

Mother grabbed her by the forearm, half dragging, half leading her from Prince Takashi. Her grip was strong and firm. "And just what do you think your doing?" Mother asked venomously. She looked at the top of her head. "You've got bramble tangled in your hair."


	15. Chapter 15

His girl left with the prince. Hiei did not quite like what it looked like, but he knew the two of them needed to leave the room so he and the large demon could have a private discussion. Possibly it was the mate's idea. She seemed like she would do almost anything to make her son end up with his girl.

He did wonder why the large demon had Yomi's son, the clone, stay with them, too. Hiei could not imagine what was going through the clone's head, having to sit in the presence of the demon who killed his father. The clone was calm though, and very attentive. His demeanor was eerily similar to that of Yomi. Almost frightfully so. Nature versus nurture blended into one with him.

Once the three of them were alone, the large demon spoke, "now, I'm in a predicament." He looked at both the clone and Hiei when he spoke. "I was going to name the runner up from this tournament as my king's steward. However," he paused to steel him. "I never meant... I'm so sorry for what I did. I never meant to...," he told the clone. The clone looked over at him, clearly acknowledging what was said to him, but nothing else. When the large demon realized the clone was not going to speak, he continued. "I still need my king's steward. Set up as a competitive role via the Demon Tournaments in the future. The winner of the next tournament will be the next king's steward.

"But I will need one for the next few years. The tentative plan is for the next tournament to take place in five years time. I wanted to discuss with you two which one of you would be interested in the role as the son of the runner up and the third place fighter."

Hiei was surprised by the large demon's directness. He thought about what all that would mean if he accepted it. He might have to move to the demon king's castle. He would either have to bring his family with him or be separated from them for possibly months at a time. Neither option was appealing. He still needed to help his girl run her territory. It was a large territory in the Demon World. Sometimes even Nishi had to help the two of them run it.

Hiei spoke up, saying, "I don't want it."

In the same instance, the clone, "I accept your offer. Provided I keep my claim on Gandara in the process."

The large demon seemed surprised by either one or both of their responses. He should have suspected Hiei's in the least. "Well, that was easy," the large demon said. Hiei could detect just a hint in of disappointment in his voice.

After that, the large demon excused Hiei next, on the pretense of having a private discussion with the clone, his new king's steward.

Hiei left, curious as to how his girl fared with the prince. He did not like the idea of it. She was at least a year, if not longer away from anything romantic. He sought out the rose gardens, but from a vantage point on the second floor of the castle. He wanted to see the two of them, but did not want them to see him. It took some time, but he eventually found what he was looking for.

He found a balcony on which to look down on the rose garden. He found mate there as well. Surprisingly, she was not with the beauty or anyone else as her guard. She was frowning in annoyance. She greeted him curtly when she realized he was next to her, but did say much more to him. She scowled down at the scene unfolding in the rose garden.

Hiei looked down over the balcony's ledge just in time to see the beauty pulling the prince away from his girl and Nishi pulling his girl away from the prince. His girl looked like she had been tangled up in a rose bush, thorns, bramble, and even a rose stuck in her hair.

He could tell the mate was very disappointed that a fight had broken out. "Congratulations on becoming queen," Hiei told her dryly.


	16. Chapter 16

*Over two years later.

Nanashi was rather surprised how well the Demon World had transitioned from King Enki to King Hayate. At first a good number of demon lords were up in arms with making the kingship hereditary once more and just having a king's steward in place as the competitive role. Somehow though, it had smoothed over after a few months of the growing pains period. After that period, they also managed to move the main castle to the Hayato territory rather than where former King Enki had set it up. Nanashi figured it must have been Minha's influence. While she had never seen it up close and personal, she had heard from Hiei who had seen it how she was good at influencing others and getting them to compromise.

The fact that Minha did not come with her husband and son and their two guards to visit Hikari's castle in Alaric two years later surprised Nanashi. They had arrived unannounced an hour before dinner. Hikari had come up to her office in a rush to tell her about their arrival. All she did was say that the king and the prince were here to meet her and Hiei and she was needed right away in council room. Hikari ran right off after that.

Nanashi ran after her, leaving the work on her desk midway completed. As she walked, she wondered why King Hayate came so unexpectedly and if Hiei knew about it. She reached the council room, seeing King Hayate at the head of the table. Hiei sat to his right. Surprisingly, no one else was with them; not even Prince Takashi.

"What's going on?" she asked as she came over and sat down next to Hiei. Hiei had a neutral face on, but based on his subtle body language, Nanashi could tell he was feeling apprehensive. He must not know what was going on either. King Hayate how ever looked extremely disgruntled. Whatever he was here for, it was not good news to him.

She snuck a hand down to Hiei's hand on his knee to give it a comforting squeeze. She then brought both of her hands up to the table, folded them, and sat patiently; waiting for King Hayate to start.

"It's my son..." King Hayate began. "He... he's under guard right now in one of the other rooms," he turned to Nanashi to start to explain.

He kept talking, kept explaining. Takashi had a rivalry with Shura, one he instigated from the start. He had been jealous of the bond that had formed between King Hayate and Shura as they worked together to run the world. Hayate need admit he should have been better at handling the rivalry between the two of them, but he figured both young demons could handle it maturely.

Since they had moved the main castle of operations to the Hayato territory, Shura had taken an interest in the hippogriffs that had been bred for centuries in the Hayato territory. King Hayate had even given some to Nanashi and Hiei. As a gift to Shura, King Hayate had given him six hippogriffs of to own and to breed and raise.

Takashi had gotten jealous of that gift, having never been given a gift like that from his parents in his life, or so he claimed. He had set loose all of Shura's hippogriffs. One of them scratched him across the chest in the process. He might not have been caught otherwise. Shura's hippogriffs had run off, escaping from the Hayato territory. All six were lost. Since Takashi had set them free, only one was found since then, dead.

"... and now neither I nor Minha really know what to do with him," Hayate finished. "We just... can't manage him and his jealous, immature behavior. Minha is at her wits ends, especially after this..."

"And where does that leave us?" Hiei asked, almost impatiently.

"Exile for Takashi," Hayate concluded. "Separate him from near the throne for a month and from Shura. As punishment, but not a permanent one of course. Hopefully this separation will calm him and make him mature a little."

"So you want us to take in your spoiled brat?" Hiei asked shortly. "Can handle him anymore?"

Nanashi glanced over at Hiei, knowing he was not the biggest fan of Takashi after the fight he and Hikari had after the last Demon King tournament.

"Are you sure about this?" Nanashi asked, not wanting to no with how desperate Hayate both looked and sounded. Yet she did not want to say yes and take on such a sudden and difficult ward. "He and Hikari did not get along the last time they saw each other. Ayane and I had to pull them apart."

Hayate leaned back in his chair and ran his hand through his bangs. He looked so exhausted. Nanashi felt pity for him. "I don't know what else to do, where else to send him. He can't stay, not for a little bit at least."

Nanashi leaned closer to him, feeling almost tempted to go up to him. "What if we can't handle him...?" she asked.

"If he is too much for you to handle, then he has been warned he will be disowned, Shura will be named prince in his place, and... your son Izo will be named heir to the Hayate clan. He's kin through Hiei and has nothing to inherit, unlike his sister," Hayate explained.

"Sounds like the princeling has a lot to lose," Hiei snided. "Who's idea was it to bring him here?"

Hayate rub his right eye sleepily. "Minha's," he answered, but looked over at Nanashi rather than Hiei. That caught Nanashi by surprise. She could not imagine Minha's willingness to separate her son from her, even if only for a month. "She trusts you with him. Says she would be okay with however Hiei seems fit to discipline him," he gave a side long glance towards Hiei that was a little uneasy.

"Like lock him in the fighting pit in the sub-basement for a few days and make him fight his way out of it?" Hiei suggested. Nanashi detected a slight smirk in his voice when he said that.

Hayate grimaced at that suggestion. "He isn't as much of a fighter as I would like him to be... That would prove to be too much for him."

Nanashi spoke next. "So are we taking him on?" she asked to Hiei. She felt like she would dislike either answer he gave her.

Hiei looked over at her, clearly still thinking it over himself. After a few seconds pause, he nodded curtly.

Hayate leaned forward and slammed his elbows down on the table in relief. He rested his head in his hands, looking a mix of both sorrowful and relieved. "I don't know what we would do if you said no..."

"If he doesn't behave himself, I'll make him wish he was never born," Hiei warned Hayate in a voice reminiscent of death. His tone sent an involuntary chill down Nanashi's spine.

Hayate laid his hands down flat on the table and sat up straighter. "Agreed," he said tightly. He brought a hand up to his bangs and fluffed and straightened them out. He pushed his chair back and stood up very calmly with an air of purpose. "I will be the one to tell him," he announced.

He rose up and headed out the room without another word. Nanashi followed after him with Hiei right behind her. Nanashi knew they had arrived in the room when she could hear the demanding sound of Takashi's voice coming from behind the door.

"You are wrong!" Nanashi heard the hoarse voice say. "My mother would never authorize for me to stay with a hucker, a human, and two half breeds!" A mumbled voice answered him, but Nanashi could not make out what words were said. "Three?! How could they have three children!? They should not have even been have had more than one. They got lucky have two as twins."

Hayate sighed, turning back to both her and Hiei. "I'm sorry. For what he just said and anything he might say in the future."

He turned back and opened the door, stepping inside of the room. Hiei followed after him, so Nanashi followed suit. Both of them took places on either side of Hayate. Nanashi got a good look at Takashi, who looked outraged. Near him were two guards, one was Ayane, but the other man was unknown to her. Both of the guards looked irritated themselves. Nanashi could not blame them as Takashi likely had been shouting at them for a while.

When Takashi saw Hayate had come into the room, he rounded on his father. He demanded, "your scare tactics are over and done! I am not staying here! You can't make me!"

"Silence," Hayate ordered him. Much to Nanashi surprise, it worked. Yet she figured it would not last very long. "Her ladyship's parents have agreed that you will stay here until you've proven you can behave maturely and responsibly rather than like an envious child."

"You said it would only be a month!" Takashi whined. "Not that I will stay that long, anyway."

"Is it going to take you longer than a month to improve your behavior?" Hayate countered. Takashi tensed up his jaw. Hayate took pity on him and did not wait it out for him to answer the question. "One month surely will be enough under their influence for you to learn to act like a prince of the world should."

"I am not staying!" he shouted. "You're just doing this to scare me! It worked, now, let's go!"

Takashi did not wait for any reply. He ducked around Hayate to the side Nanashi was on and shoved passed her. She had not expected it, so she let him pass in his rude way. She gasped as she got knocked into the wall by him.

Hayate was after him before Nanashi realized he moved. He swore and then ran after him. Ayane and the other guard followed. So did Hiei and Nanashi.

They all caught up with Takashi in the front yard. Hayate got to him first, with Hiei just behind him. Nanashi stopped and watched the scene when Ayane and the other guard did so as well.

Hayate had grabbed Takashi by the upper arm with one hand. When Hiei went to punch Takashi, Hayate blocked it with his free hand. "Stand down," Hayate told him shortly.

"He shouldn't have shoved my mate," Hiei growled back.

"You will not touch him while I'm around," Hayate commanded.

"Good thing you're leaving soon," Hiei responded, hard gaze locked on Takashi.

Nanashi stepped over to the tense, grabbing Hiei's hand and pulling away from the father and son pair and over to stand with the guards.

Hayate turned to Takashi, saying simply, "you're here two months now. We'll send you more things to accommodate you soon." He shoved Takashi to the ground towards where Hiei and Nanashi were standing. Takashi did not move from his hands and knees on the ground with his head hung low. Hiei still stepped in front of her anyway. Hayate looked over to Nanashi and Hiei, saying, "good luck." To the two guards he nodded and said, "let's go."

Hayate and the two of them began to walk away from the castle and into the forest on the outskirts of the castle grounds. They did not get far when Takashi pulled himself off of the ground and went running after them.

"I will not stay here and you cannot make me!" he shouted.

Hayate stopped abruptly. When Takashi caught up to him, he drew a line in the dirt between the two of them. "Three months now." Takashi looked ready to yell at him some more, but Hayate was over it by now and yelling freely. "You will stay here, you will behave yourself, and you will grow up here!" He panted, bringing his volume down, but keeping up with the threatening tone. "You cross this line or upset your hosts anymore than you already have and I will disown you. I will name Shura my heir to the Demon World. I will name their son," he pointed towards where Nanashi and Hiei stood, "the heir to the Hayato Territory."

"You wouldn't," Takashi said, voice cracking.

"You said I wouldn't bring you here, and I did. What makes you think I would do that and not you leave you here?" Hayate asked.

"I..." Takashi stuttered. "I'm your son. I'm the prince-"

"You act like neither," Hayate told him tightly. "And until you can, you will stay here." When Takashi said nothing, just stood there simpering, Hayate turned around to walk away. Yet the second Takashi lifted his foot in clear indication to follow, Hayate rounded an him, bringing his foot in line with Takashi's chest and shoving to the ground and skidding back a few feet. "Stay down!" Hayate said, voice cracking. From what Nanashi could tell, he was blinking rapidly.

Hayate turned around and sprinted away into the woods, not turning back; even after Takashi shouted after him from his spot sitting on the ground. Nanashi watched, standing uncomfortably behind Hiei as he shouted himself hoarse and then started crying like a child wallowing in self pity on the ground.

Hiei seemed to have had enough of it as he moved towards Takashi, seething. Nanashi stopped him before he reached the prince. "Don't," she pleaded softly. "I'll handle it," she whispered, not sure how exactly she was going to do that though.

Takashi had seen them and their exchange. "Just leave me alone," he shouted dryly at both of them.

"As you wish," Hiei hissed down at Takashi.

Hiei took Nanashi by the hand and led her towards the castle. "I'm locking him out. He can ask nicely to come in and apologize for shoving you or he can spend the night in the cold."

When they were at the front door, Nanashi dug her heels in the ground and blurted out, "no."

"What do you mean, 'no?'" Hiei asked her.

"I'll stay outside. With him," she decided. "Until he decides to come in."

He looked at her, not liking what she said. "If he touches you..." he warned. "Or insults you again..."

"He won't catch me off guard again," she said, bringing up just enough of the wind dragon up to wind rustle her hair. "If you're really so concerned about my being out here, send someone out with the book I'm reading. It's possibly going to be a while," she half joked.

Hiei did leave her to stay outside and sit by the door to wait for Takashi to get up and come over and inside with her. He had sent Izo out with her book and then again later when it was dinner time. Both times Izo tried and failed to get her to come inside and be comfortable while the prince was moping. Izo's voice, but Hiei words. Nanashi refused both times, but she did not doubt that Hiei was watching carefully through the mind of Takashi should anything he try anything.

Nanashi had finished her meal and nearly finished her book, and yet Takashi still sat rooted to the spot he had been in after Hayate had kicked him away from the line he had drawn. He had stopped crying, probably too exhausted to do it anymore.

Nanashi started to feel her own patience wearing thin, even after she kept reminding herself she only had to outlast Takashi in patience. That she had to in this power struggle they started to have from the moment she agreed to sit out and wait him. Maybe locking him outside and waiting for him to beg to come in was a better idea...

Nanashi looked up from her book she had been reading when she saw the front door open. She thought at first it was Izo again, coming to get her dishes, but much to her surprise, it was Izo and he was not alone. He was holding Kaze, who was squirming and whimpering in his older brother's arms.

"I'm sorry, Mother," Izo said as Nanashi stood up. "Father said not to bring him to you, but he's been fussing and asking for you. Inconsolable for how he is," Izo added as she took Kaze from his arms.

When Kaze realized he was being passed off to her, he practically jumped into her arms. She gasped in near fear when she almost dropped him in his haste. "What's wrong with him?" she asked, pulling him in close. He was shaky, but did not feel neither warm nor cold, so he must not have been sick.

"We couldn't figure it out," Izo said slowly. "Just kept asking for you. Father did read his mind..." Nanashi shot him a look that should how little she approved of him doing that. "And all he wanted was you. Nothing else."

Nanashi sighed, sitting down with Kaze, leaning her back against the outer wall next to the door. Kaze cuddled as close to her as he possibly could, whimpering still as he buried his face into her neck and shoulder. She ran her hand through his hair, absentmindedly thinking she should have it trimmed soon as it was getting shaggy.

"He can stay with me," she said, not sure what else to say. She did not want the prince to outlast her, not at the expense of Kaze.

"He should not stay outside when the sun sets," Izo reminded her. "It's warm during the day, but it gets too cold at night."

She sighed, thinking it over as she looked over at Takashi. He had moved now, but slightly. He was looking back over at her and her sons with a half curious, half scowling face. "If we don't come in by then, come out and get him, please," she decided.

Izo nodded reluctantly in agreement. He knelt down beside, asking softly, "how old is he," he nodded his head sideways over at Takashi, "exactly?"

Nanashi sighed, thinking it over. "Demon age, is around twenty something, but I'm not sure. Your father would know. Demons do age slower though. So he could be around human age eighteen maturity wise."

Izo shook his head, but did not voice what he thought about that. "I will come to get Kaze at sun set," he said before he left the three of them out there.

Kaze kept crying and clinging to her, which was surprising, even for him. He rarely cried, and even then only over something major. She kept trying to get her to tell him what was wrong, but he just kept saying he was scared, but not of what or anything. She wondered if he had heard all the shouting earlier and that that was what had scared him. She would not blame him.

She was so focused on comforting Kaze, that she had not realized that Takashi had not moved until he stood at the bottom of the steps leading up to the front door. She looked down at him, unsure what to make of his movement.

Kaze turned and looked over at Takashi, blinking over and studying this stranger to him. "Who... this?" he lisped out the question.

"Our... new guest," Nanashi said slowly. "A friend's son," she added.

"Hello," Kaze called over to Takashi, a mix of shy and curious and yet scared.

Takashi looked back and forth between Nanashi and Kaze, scowling. "He looks like you," he finally said.

"He's my son," she said back. "Second... living son."

Kaze turned his head back to Nanashi, burying it in her shoulder and whimpering. "Dad said bad," he lisped out.

Nanashi frowned, annoyed with hearing that. She was no longer surprised that he was upset and wanted her. She shook her head slightly at the thought of it.

Takahi blinked his red and swollen eyes up at her and Kaze. "How is that possible?"

She frowned gently over to him, "what do you mean...?" She was not quite sure what he was asking.

"My mother said humans could not have more than one child... or... whatever... with a demon. How do you have three?" His tone was a bit too demanding for her taste.

"I don't know..." she said slowly. "He was a miracle," she said, running her hand through Kaze's hair gently. "He was never expected or planned or anything like. He shouldn't have been, but I'm glad he was." She paused, checking to see if Kaze was still awake. She was unsure how aware he was about what was said around him. She looked down at Takashi, who had settled himself down to sit on the stairs near, but below her. "He's not our third child..." she added hollowly and softly. "I... miscarried around the time Hikari and Izo were toddlers. I tried to keep him, but after months of trying everything possible, I didn't." A hushed silenced fell over them. Nanashi broke it, half squirming under it. "I should have never been able to have Kaze... but I can't imagine never having him, even if I shouldn't have... if that makes any sense."

She felt bittersweet when she finished talking. Kaze had fallen asleep in her arms, all warm with sleep. She look over at the sun, seeing it getting ready to set. She hoped Izo would come for him soon so Kaze could get a proper rest. She was still determined to outlast Takashi to get him to come into the castle under her leadership.

"My mother was like that. When my sister died when I was young," Takashi blurted out. "She got sick so suddenly, that not even my mother's blessing her to live worked." He looked suddenly shy with himself after he said it. "I didn't really understand what was happening. I do recall touching her and seeing she wouldn't survive the illness that took her."

Nanashi shifted uncomfortably with Kaze in her arms. She was not really sure what to make of Takashi's confession. "I'm sorry..." she said softly to break the silence. "Um, what do you mean by you touching her...?"

"You don't know?" he asked her with a dash of shortness. "Your mate does. When I touch someone, I can see a brief glimpse of their future. Only once though, as far as I know. Hard to put it into context though." He tone shifted to have more bite to it. "I saw your mate with my father, running through the woods when I saw his future. They were trying to save a woman who was screaming. As a child I thought it was princess."

Nanashi felt a chill run down her spine at the thought of how eerily familiar that sounded. "I don't think it was a princess," she said.

"My mother said it ended up being you," Takashi added in.

Nanashi shook her head, trying not to think about... him. Determined not to think about him. She change the subject to the first thing that popped into her mind. "Does what you see cause a change in the future?"

"I don't think so. Mother told me not to use it unless necessary. Even though doesn't affect anyone unlike her ability to bless or my late uncle's ability to order people around," he explained. He looked over at her, curious. "I could do it for you. See a glimpse of your future if you wanted me to. And tell you what it is, too."

He looked less morose and more excited at the idea. Nanashi eyed him curiously, thinking it over. The idea was seriously tempting. Only a glimpse, what could it hurt?

"It won't change anything? The future?" she asked carefully.

"No. Mother said it was like a watered down version of what something similar to what she could do. I'm a rare kind of demon that inherited weakened abilities from both parents, rather than one dominantly over the other. That's why I can do some things with the wind," he held up his hands, showing off a mini whirlwind in his palm. "But I can't seem to be able to conjure wings to fly like my father. Or much more of anything else beyond a bow and arrows..."

She figured Hiei was in Takashi's mind. If he did not want her to ask Takashi for the future's glimpse, he would stop it before it happened.

She shifted Kaze over to her left side and held her right hand out to him. "Show me," she said in a hushed whisper.

Takashi came up to her, willingly. He reached over to her hand with both of his, but stopped. "Are you sure?" he asked to clarify.

She nodded. He took her hand tentatively in his two hands. His hands felt cool to the touch. He closed his eyes briefly and then reopened them. "Do you want to know?" he asked her solemnly. She nodded, the desire to know overrode the fear of knowing. "You were... very old with grey hair... I think near blind... with cloudy eyes... you were reaching up to your wind dragon on your neck..."

"That's it," she asked, feeling bold to say something like that in response.

"I don't see much, my lady," he said. "Only a glimpse is all."

She hummed under her breath. "Thank you," she said. It did not seem like much to be told anything beyond she'll get grey hair. That was something that would naturally happen eventually. The idea of becoming near blind was not at all appealing though. Maybe she could take steps to prevent that. She kind of wished he had left that later part out.

"He's quite tired, isn't he?" Takashi asked her softly. He nodded down towards Kaze.

"Hopefully Izo will come out to fetch him soon," she said, meeting his eyes in a dead stare.

Takashi blinked first and looked away. "Wouldn't it be better if... we go in...?" He said slowly. "You and him would be more comfortable," he rushed out.

Nanashi watched him carefully before she began to stand up. By the time she had leaned forward to stand up, Takashi was already standing. By the time she was fully standing, he had stepped over to the front door, opening it for her.

"Follow me," she instructed him dominantly as she carried Kaze into the castle.


	17. Chapter 17

Staying with the hucker, human, and three half breeds started out rocky for Takashi. The first three days after his father left, he still did not believe that the three month punishment by exile would stand. Especially not when his mother heard about it.

It rocked his world when his things were delivered and his mother had turned around and made it a four month exile. His lordship, Hiei, was not happy with him when he heard about his 'juvenile' reaction of shouting and raging. Hiei even threatened to write his parents about it and make it a permanent exile. Hiei had been exiled in his life before, so he should have at least commiserated rather than judged Takashi for his shouting and throwing things in his assigned bedroom.

The human though, her ladyship's mother, Nanashi, had been patience and kindness personified. She had calmed him down on that third day, talked him down. Somehow. She had held him and mostly convinced him that the best way to get through this was to keep his chin up through this abominable trial.

In spite of her humanness, it was easy to trust her and like her. Especially given the option of either her or her mate. Takashi hated how Hiei always watched him, as if waiting without blinking to catch him make a mistake that he could write to tell his parents about. Those crimson red eyes seem to follow him ever where he went.

Their three children were a mixed bag of tricks. Their youngest son, the toddler Kaze, was open and trusting. He did not seem to mind Takashi's presence once he got used to him. A few times he would even try to get Takashi to play with him. It was hard to believe this goodly child had been spawned by Hiei.

Their oldest son, Izo, was like all the good from both his parents. His mother's gentleness and intelligence mixed with his father's honor and determination. A shallow friendship was easy to form with him once Takashi realized that if he wanted it, he would have to pursue it.

Their daughter though, a completely different story. A nightmare in half breed form. Loud, obnoxious, and ever taunting. She got the worst of her parents. Stubborn and begrudging from her mother and vicious and arrogant from her mother. At first, when she knew no one else was in ear shot, she would tease Takashi mercilessly for 'losing' the fight between them at the last Demon King Tournament and then 'losing' his inheritances to Shura and Izo. He tried to take in stride the way Nanashi would have wanted him to, but he eventually snapped at her and entered a shouting match with her that alerted the whole castle to fighting. It was all he could do not to slap that smug look off her flat, ugly face.

Hiei had reached them first in the midst of the fight. Apparently with him, the insult 'pauper prince' was nothing, but 'monstrous halfling' drew the line. Takashi was not sure what would have happened had Nanashi not also arrived on the scene and calmed her raging mate and daughter down.

Takashi and Hikari were punished for their fight, even though Takashi thought it was only fair to punish Hikari since she started it. Both had to help the cleaning staff clean the castle for a week, but were not allowed to clean in the same area. They were both also warned not to be alone together for the remainder of Takashi's stay.

While he clean with his part of the cleaning crew, Takashi's mind wondered just what his mother saw in Hikari that made her a potential mate for him one day. She had a claim to a large holding in the Demon World and was kin, sure, but that did not balance out to her short comings. She was short in stature, face looked like it was smushed in, hair barely passed her neck and singed at the ends because of her fire dragon, and voice that grated and racked over his last nerve. The best moments around her was when she was not talking to anyone or looking at him.

When the cleaning punishment was over, Nanashi coaxed Takashi into training with her and the exiled/representative from the Hayato clan, Hotaka. Hotaka was tedious though. Takashi found he only stand the story of when he was a toddler who fell asleep at his mother's birthday celebration and how Hotaka carried him to a couch for him to sleep on only so long before he felt able to recite the story himself. His presence was at least preferably to Hikari's.

Takashi spent most of his time in the company of Nanashi, her company the most preferable to anyone else in the castle. Especially compared to Hikari's. He worked with on tracking an outlaw wolf demon pack on Hikari's lands. The outlaws had attacked and some villagers in the village near the castle and were not above harassing the farmers who lived in the countryside. Hiei often reminded her that if they found the outlaws, he needed to be there with her in the case of a fight. The elusive outlaws were hard to track, even for Hiei, which frustrated him. When frustrated, he was even more uncomfortable to be around. Takashi could not begin to comprehend what Nanashi saw in him. Hikari had more charm than he did.

Takashi was pretty sure Hikari was told to keep her distance from him as much as he was told to keep his distance from her. Yet when the day came that Nanashi had to take Kaze to the Human World for a doctor's visit, Takashi felt the temptation to watch Hikari and Izo spar. It was an irresistible itch that he could not help but scratch.

The twins were sparring in the woods just outside of the castle bounds. Far enough away from both the castle and nearby village that they could fully release their dragons without risking others.

Takashi watched them from atop a tree, Hikari egging Izo on to keep fighting. He sensed Hikari burn herself out and run clean out of spirit energy while Izo had enough sense in him to keep some in reserves. Hikari pushed him still, to train until she could barely stand. When she had sunk to her knees and panted deeply, Izo called it a day between the both of them. He glanced up at the tree Takashi had been sure he was hiding in secret in, before telling Hikari it was time to go back. He had kept his energy suppressed to just above zero. No one should have been able to just sense him.

"Whose in the tree?" she asked from her roost on the ground. "I can't sense anyone. Is it Father?"

"Let's go back," Izo told her, walking over to her and offering her his hand. "Rest up and shower before Mother gets back."

Hikari smacked his hand away irritably. "I'm not tired yet," she grumbled out the lie. Izo crossed his arms over his chest and sighed tiredly. "Whose in the damn tree?" Takashi did not breathe or blink, waiting to see if his friendship between himself and Izo was strong enough for him not be betrayed to irritable halfling. "It's the pauper prince, isn't it?"

Takashi felt a growl brewing deep within his chest at her insult.

"You're not allowed to call him that," Izo told her in a sharp and cutting tone. "Mother forbade it." He reached his hand down to her one more time. "Now, let's go. We've been at it for hours and I'm exhausted." He raised his voice. "Beside, _no one_ is allowed to be out of the castle grounds alone until the wolf outlaws are found. It's not safe and that's Father's orders."

Hikari ignored him and slipped herself down to sit on her backside. "Fine then, leave me here with the pauper prince. See what Father thinks of that."

"I'm tired," Izo seethed impatiently down at her. He was exhausted, but wanted to both protect his sister and obey his parents. "Fine then, I will go get Father. See how he feels about you staying in the woods." He raised his voice higher. "All alone. By yourself. With no one else nearby."

"You wouldn't," she challenged.

Izo whipped his pale and sweaty brow. "The both of you better back in the castle by the time Father and I return to this spot."

Izo left them at slow, meandering jog. He was worn out without a doubt. Takashi looked down at Hikari sitting on the ground, her flat face scrunched up in the most hideous scowl.

Much as Takashi would have liked to fight with her, verbally or physically, he did not want to risk the wrath of her father, especially with Lady Nanashi in the Human World.

He jumped out of the tree, knowing it was a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. If he left her there, Hiei would be angry that he left her alone. Yet if he stayed with her and got into a fight or argument with her, Hiei would be angry.

"Let's go," he told her authoritatively. He would be in more trouble if he left her on her own than if he stayed with her. He could give her the slip once they were in sight of the castle.

"Don't tell me what to do, pauper prince," she said as she rose up to a standing position. She looked more tired than her brother did, but too stubborn to know she should call it quit. Too thick in the skull.

"Don't call me that," he said, trying to keep his tone even. It was so tempting to ditch her before she could cause another fight between the two of them. The wolf outlaws though...

"I call them as I see them, and I said don't tell me what to do," she walked over to him.

He turned away from her and walked back towards the castle, trying to keep his temper in check as she shouted insults at him. He silently hoped her father was hearing every single word she was saying, and also noticed that Takashi had yet to hurl a word at her. That was until the noxious little bitch started throwing rocks at his back.

He halted in his tracks, reminding himself not to touch her at the very least. "Would you stop!" he shouted down at her. "Let's just get back to the castle and then I don't have to deal with you anymore!"

"You can't tell me what to do!" she retorted back, red faced and stubborn. She hurled another hefty rock right at his face.

He caught and threw it away, rather than throwing it right back at her. He remembered Lady Nanashi telling him when others go low, he needed to go high. Hikari was going low, but he could not stoop down to her level, no matter how tempting it was.

"Just come back to the castle," he told her. "Or don't. Run along and see what your father would have to say."

"He hates you," she blurted out, trying still to get a rise out of him. "He secretly hopes you're disowned. So that you can never have anything to inherit."

"Get to the castle," he said, digging deep in the well of his self control. He turned back to the castle, walking briskly.

"Or better yet, you never find a mate so even if, big if, you do inherit, there's no one to follow after you," she flustered out. She was certainly rooting around for insults to irritate him. "No one wants a pauper prince for a mate." A rock hit him in the back of his head, cracking his resolve.

He turned his back, and spoke in a soft and vicious voice, "no one would want you either. Claim or no claim. Too short and too ugly. One look at those atrocious red eyes, and suitors would run for the hills."

He gave in, he knew he should not have, but he gave in and insulted. He enjoyed it, but it was a bitter pill because he knew he should never have said anything. He heard her gasp, but could not bring himself to look at her.

Yet then the absence of silence around him sent the hairs on the back of his neck stand up right. He turned to look to see where Hikari had gone, but she was missing. He was all alone, so close yet so far to the castle. He swore under his breathe, trying to sense where she could have gone, but she had run herself out of spirit energy, so he could not find her that way. He was tempted to just go back to the castle and tell her father she ran off. Yet if he did that, he would have to tell Hiei what he said that made her run away. Hiei would probably blame him, even though Hikari bullied him and threw rocks at him.

"Hikari," he hissed aloud. He turned around, running dead ahead in the direction Hikari had been standing. That had to be the best way to track her down. He decided to track her down and then drag her back to the castle, willingly or unwillingly.


	18. Chapter 18

That pauper prince, thought Hikari as she ran. Her parents should have never ever let him stay when his father ditched him. She hated him. He carried himself like haughty, arrogant know it all. She hated his guts.

He was such a bully, too. Trying to tell her what to do, to get back to the castle. Then insulting her when she refused him. He also would not fight her back when she was raging at him. She wished she could just get him kicked out of the castle, her castle. Fighting with her got him in trouble before, so why not again?

Still, she was upset with him. Upset that he only attacked her verbally when she antagonized him. Upset by what he said. She knew he was wrong about what he said... but could not help believing it in the moment. She ran away from him and away from the castle. If he wanted her to go back to the castle so badly, he would have to drag her there kicking and screaming.

She stumbled over a tree root her blurry eyes missed. She tried keep on her feet, but in her extra induced stumbling, she feel into a green, prickly bush. She kicked and clawed in panic at that. She knew if she got cut or scraped, she could get sick easily since her blood was prone to infections.

She reached to her left hip, scrambling to find the knife she usually had sheathed there. Her parents always insisted both she and her brother carry a spare weapon beyond their elemental dragons. Have a spare weapon once saved her mother's life. She felt like her stomach sank when she realized her knife was not with her. She had been in a rush to get ready in the morning that she forgot all about it. Likely it was still laying on top of her dresser where he left it. If either of her parents knew about this, she would be in such trouble.

When she managed to scramble her way out of the bush, she sat on the ground, weary to the bone from her exhausting spar with Izo. She checked herself over, finding just a minor scratch along her calf. Easy to hide. Just keep it clean and neither Mother nor Father would ever have to know.

She sat, thinking over her failed attempt to fight with Takashi... She should not have thrown the rocks. Yet she thought for sure that would have made him give in. She wanted him gone though. It was her castle, so it did not seem fair that her parents decided he could stay. For running away from him and off on her own in the woods worn out and unarmed, she already knew she was going to be in trouble anyway.

She sighed, picking herself up off the ground. She ran her hands over her pants, clearing away the dirt and pine needles there. She looked around the trees, finding the silence eerie. She turned around, looking this way and that. In panic, she could not remember which way she came from. She could tell which bush she fell in by its broken branches, but beyond that, she had no idea which way she had been running.

She opened her mouth, whimpering out, "Takashi..." She would much rather be with him right now than alone.

She tried to remember the survival training Mother had drilled into her. Don't eat or drink anything you are not sure is safe... No... Light a three fires in a haphazard triangle... She did not have the energy for that... Or even knew how to light a fire beyond her energy... Izo could do it... No... Get high and survey the area... Yes.

She looked up in the area surrounding her. The tree to her left looked high enough. She went over to it and started to climb it. Half way up though, her limbs shook so bad she had to stop and rest. After a few breathes, she pushed herself to climb high enough to see beyond the other tree tops. She saw the castle. She felt relieved, even though it also looked so impossibly far away. It was going to be a long and weary walk back home. The afternoon sun was also waning.

She looked over to the right, seeing a coil of smoke rising out of the tree line. Maybe it was someone from the village. Maybe they had food. Her stomach gave a sharp, almost painful growl of desire at the thought of food.

She climbed down slowly and shakily, slipping and nearly falling out of the tree. She walked the direction she remembered the smoke was. She wondered who was there exactly, and if she knew them. Probably villagers out hunting. They would know who she was though. Her crimson red eyes were hard to miss... As Takashi deemed to point out.

It felt like it took a lot longer than expected for her to find the group around the fire. She heard the muffled voices though, but could not make out what they were saying. Her heart was too busy pounding in her ears. Sounded more like barking to her than anything else.

When she broke through the clearing the group was in, she stopped dead still at the sight of them. Five wolf demons looked up at her around their fire, most of a half cooked animal carcass roasting on the spit over the fire. They looked more animalistic than Asa, the old wolf healer in the village did.

The biggest one, with a full wolf's head and hands that were half claws rose up first. He growled savagely in her direction, ears flat down on the top of his head. He barked louder over at her, gesturing at her with his paw/hand. Two of the nearest wolf demon's by him rose up to their feet, looking just as fiercely as their leader. Looking right at her.

She raised her hands in the air submissively and shook her head. "I just... wanted help... to get home..." she stuttered out.

She looked the leader dead in the eye, knowing these were wolf demon outlaws her parents wanted dead or at least gone. They had been harassing the village, even killed a few of the villagers. And here she was, unarmed and exhausted, right before them.

"Takashi..." she breathed, closing her eyes and hoping she would hear him running after her.

"Bring her," the leader barked the order.

She turned to run, but only making it a few yards before she was knocked to the ground. Her head hit the ground with a resounding smack that left her ears ringing. She hit and fought and struck at her assailants as hard as she dared, but to no avail. She was too weak to do anything substantial. If she had kept some of her spirit energy in reserves, she would have set them aflame.

Their fists continued to rain down over her as she curled up into a ball on the ground. She brought her hands over her face protectively and kicked at the two assailants on her. Thankfully neither of them scratched or bit her or drew her blood. She did feel one grab her at the bottom of her left pant leg and drug her across the ground back towards the fire.

"No," she cried out in panic. "No, please, I just want to go home," she begged. She kicked at the wolf demon with her right foot feebly. She turned her upper body over, trying to dig her hands into the ground. "No, please, no," she pleaded, terrified of what would happen when they got back to the leader. "Takashi!" she screamed out his name, hoping he was nearby and could scare the wolf demons away. Yet she was unsure if he would help her after she had thrown rocks and insults at him.

She reached for her fire dragon, but it was asleep. It and she had no energy left to awaken it. She wished she knew how to use her life energy to call it up. Her parents never taught her or Izo that, but told them it was to be a last ditch effort to survive. Now seemed like the perfect time to use it, but she had no clue how to do it.

The wolf demon dragging her stopped abruptly and set her down underneath the gaze of the leader. The leader looked down at her, growling down at her. She saw and even smelled the spittle and drool slipping through the gaps between his sharp teeth in his long snout. The smell made her stomach go sour. She just wanted to run away and throw up somewhere.

"What do we have here?" he bit out. He brought his foot down on her throat, barely applying any pressure. Hikari winced in panic, too afraid to close her eyes. "I know those eyes," he growled out. She kept her eyes open, not daring to look away from him. "Hucker's eyes." He applied more pressure on her throat, making it harder to breathe. "Maybe we should carve them out and send them to your parents, eh? Can they maintain that frightened look when we pop them out?"

She grabbed his foot, trying to pull or shove or push it off her neck on something. It felt like her voice box was being ground into the back of her neck. She tried not to panic about the inability to breathe. It made her wish she was a wind mage like her mother or little brother. Then the inability to breathe would not be an issue.

Unexpectedly, she felt him let her neck go. She sucked down a desirable breath as deep as she could make it. She only managed two before he brought his knee down between her ribs. She smacked and punched at his leg, but to no avail. She could not breathe, could not scream, all over again.

"Knife," she heard him bark out the request. One of his gang, the one who had drug her across the ground, past him a tarnished and rusty blade.

She reached again for her fire dragon, begging it to wake up, trying to order her life energy to be shoved into it. She begged it to wake up and save her.

As he was bringing the knife down towards the right side of her face, just under her eye, she felt her dragon blaze up at the realization of danger. Her head went cold and fuzzy and eyes went a unfocused and blurry. Her fire dragon in such a tiny form leaped up from her neck, keeping its tail attached to her neck. It latched its jaws around the leader's knife hand, setting it ablaze inside and out.

It was not much, but was a fleeting chance for her to escape. The leader lifted his hand up to the sky and roared in pain. He got off of her and was busily beating his fist and arm against the ground. She took the slim opportunity to turn over and begin to crawl away. Before she could get far though, she felt a clawed hand come back and grip her hair. She cried out in panic, trying to get away the hand yanking her back. The leader had her again, yanking her to her feet and against her.

"Drop her," Hikari heard a gruff, out of breath voice sound.

She felt the leader yank her against him, hand going from her hair to around her waist. "Make me," the leader said, right next to her ear and face. Her stomach flipped at the smell of his noxious breath.

She blinked up, clearing up her blurry vision. Takashi stood across the clearing from them. He had a bow and arrow conjured up and taking aim at the leader behind her. He was panting, but kept the bow steady. He had run after her. Now he was here.

"Shoot him," she called out to Takashi.

Takashi stood steady, not moving or even blinking. "You won't do it," the leader challenged.

Takashi widened his stance. He took aim and shot one of the other men, point blank in the eye. The man dropped like a bag of bricks. The leader growled furiously right next to her ear. He brought his mouth down over Hikari's left side's shoulder and neck, burying his teeth into her flesh. She screamed out in panic and pain.

She heard Takashi swear and then heard a resounding twang sail past her ear. The leader's mouth dragged off of her neck and shoulder. His weight forced her down to the ground with him on top of her. She kicked and struggled to slip out from under him. She heard more sounds of arrows being shot, four to be exact. She managed to get her upper body out from under the leader. She could not manage much more than that. She twisted to her right side, laying on it heavily. Her shoulder and neck felt so wet, with a deep ache within it. It hurt so bad, she felt like she could not move anymore.

She watched Takashi rush over to her, grunting as he yanked the leader off of her. "You shouldn't have run away," he sighed exasperated with her. He reached down to help pull her up from underneath her right shoulder. The pull made her left neck and shoulder shoot up through pain. "Fuck," he swore.

She brought right hand up to wounds. She could not bring herself to look at it until now. The front of her shirt was red and getting redder. "I need a healer," she choked out. She could not even think about what could happen before she got to Izo, or even Asa. "Izo... or Asa... the healer in the village."

Takashi growled in frustration. Hikari wondered what he was waiting for. She tried not to think about how she needed one of the two of them immediately. He stepped over to the dead leader's face and stomped on it harshly. A sickening snap echoed when the jaw bone broke. He rounded on her. She felt herself want to quiver under his piercing blue eyes. He tore off the sleeve of the leader.

He stepped over to her, wrapping the leader's sleeve painfully tight around her shoulder and slightly around her neck. She still felt all wet and sticky. He loomed over her, ordering, "you scream loudly and don't ever stop while were moving. It'll likely bring your father or brother down on us."

"Why...?" she winced.

He reached down and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She cried out as the pain gouged deep her shoulder. The pain was sickening, threatening to make her pass out.

"Keep screaming," he order her. "Draw someone out to us."

That was something for her that was not hard to do.


	19. Chapter 19

'I should have gone back to the castle for help, I should have gone back to the castle for help,' Takashi kept thinking to himself as he jogged through the forest, trying to find Hikari. She was so stupid for running. He was so stupid for pissing her off in a way that made her run off. Stupid, half- stupid... whatever.

He felt like he had been jogging for hours, stopping briefly here and there to look and listen for her. He felt like he finally got lucky when he spotted a bush that was all broken up to hell on one side. The branches broken off were fresh by the look and touch of them. Hikari had to be somewhere around here. He silently prayed to the Great Mother that the wolf outlaws were not either. They made Lady Nanashi nervous, which made Lord Hiei cautious in turn. And everyone else.

He called out Hikari's name softly, hoping that she would hear him, come to her senses, and follow him back to the castle. He swore to himself when his call was met with a natural forest silence.

He jogged in the direction opposite of where the bush's branches were broken, hoping for some sign of her. He halted abruptly, feeling his stomach to turn stone when he heard her not only scream, but scream out his name.

"Great Mother," he growled out, running towards the sound of her screaming.

He halted abruptly when he saw her in a clearing, surrounding by the wolf outlaws and being held by the hair by one of the men. She had to be a special kind of stupid to only find the wolf gang her parent were weary of, but also to get captured by them when she had drained all her spirit energy training earlier. He was half tempted to kick her ass if was not for the fact that now he had to save her stupid ass.

"Drop her," he called over to the leader as he took aim at him with his spirit energy bow and arrow. He did not know what would happen if he had to shoot him. It sure as hell did not seem like the leader would just let her go without a care.

"Shoot him!" Hikari screamed at him. She looked rough and tumbled, worse for wear. He wondered what happened to her since she ran away from him.

'Calm as still water,' he thought to himself. If he lost his cool, there was no telling what the wolf outlaws would do to her or to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a rusty knife laying on the ground by the leader's feet. He wondered whose knife that was. He hoped it was Hikari's.

"You won't do it," the leader challenged, pulling Hikari closer to him. The air had a rancid tang to it after he flapped his jaws.

Takashi stilled his breathing and spread his feet wider apart. If he did nothing, the leader would likely do something to her. Yet he was not tempted to take on all of the outlaws at once. If he missed his shots, it was bad news.

"Damn it," Takashi whispered.

Before anyone had a chance to inhale, Takashi took aim and shot the man closest to the leader and Hikari. He tried not to let the success of striking the man down with a shot through the eye show on his face. Now was not a time to show pride. Now was a time to end this stalemate before it escalated into a fight.

Unfortunately, that was not what the leader wanted. The leader escalated the matter. First, he growled over at Takashi, and then he widened his jaws, moved them over Hikari's neck and shoulder, and snapped his jaws shut.

It seemed to take her a breath or two to realize what had happened. She screamed out a haunting wail that seemed to echo throughout the forest.

"Son of a bitch," Takashi cursed, not sure what to do next.

Luckily his training with his father kicked in. Training to aim fast and shoot fast. He remembered those training days with his bow and arrow. Aim, shoot. Aim, shoot. Aim, shoot. Faster, faster, faster. If Takashi did not do it fast enough, his father would punch or kick him, telling him he was too slow and another enemy got to him first. If the only thing he was good at was shooting arrows, then he had to be one of the best at it. He could hardly fight worth a damn any other way. At least, that was what his father had said.

Instinct and training blended together as one. He aimed and shot, aimed and shot. First, he hit the leader right in the eye. Then three of the four others near them in the same manner. The fourth and last one rush him though. Takashi missed the first shot at him, and the second. The wolf outlaw member was nearly on top of him when he let off a wild shot with no aim.

Fortune was with him that the wild shot buried itself in the wolf gang member's stomach, making him stagger and halt. He had a chance for a second shot and he took it. Takashi took another shot and buried an arrow deep within the center of his enemy's skull.

He shook away his bow and arrow once the last wolf outlaw member dropped. He looked over at Hikari, her lower body covered up by the leader's dead body. He ran over to her and helped get the dead body off of her.

"You shouldn't have run away," he growled down at her. Then he turned and looked at her. Her right shoulder was on the ground and her left shoulder and arm hung limply to her body.

Her shoulder and neck where red and bleeding, heavily. Both front and back. A bite mark next to her neck seemed like it was almost leaking. She would not last long by herself with these wounds. The sharp, salty scent of her blood permeated the air.

He went over to her, intending to pull her to her feet and march, or at least, carry her to the nearest healer. Her brother, at the castle. She wince pitifully when he tried to haul her up to her feet. The wound was serious...

"Fuck," he swore once more.

"I need a healer... Izo or Asa... the healer from the village," she begged. She had that right.

He needed to get her to a healer before she passed out or lost much more blood. He needed to do so immediately. He felt his temper flourish as he growled menacingly. He went over to the leader, stomping on his face until he heard a crack. He then ripped the sleeve off the corpse and went over to Hikari. She looked pale and frightened as he knelt down beside her. He bound it tightly as he could around her neck and shoulder. She whimpered as he did so, but he did not let up. She still was going to need a healer.

Takashi thought fast. She would not be able to move fast. She could not be left behind either. Yet he could not run very fast carrying her. He would have to carry her, but it would be better for her if someone heard her screaming and came running. They were closer to the castle than the village, so they needed to head there.

He straightened up, ordering her, "you scream loudly and don't ever stop while were moving. It'll likely bring your mother, father, or brother down on us."

"Why...?" she asked pitifully.

He reached down, picked her up, and threw her over his shoulder. He started running towards the castle at the fastest sprint he could manage. She screamed a little bit, but it was not enough. Her family needed to hear her.

She was indeed heavier than he expected her to be. Must be all that muscle she had. All the training she had been put through in her life must be the reason why. He ran as fast as he could, near breathless, why she screamed and cried as much as she could. Proof that she was still alive and really wanted to live. He was unsure whether or not she realized how serious her wounds were.

All her screaming paid off. When Takashi felt like he could hardly run anymore, he heard the sound of two others approaching from the direction of the castle. He knew they were close. He was about ready to drop her heavy weight when her brother and father emerged from the woods in front of them.

"Oh, thank goodness," Takashi panted, setting the whinging Hikari down on the ground on her back. Her brother said nothing, but rushed over to where she lay. "She was attacked-"

His words were cut off abruptly when her father, Lord Hiei, punch him across the jaw, jarring his head, neck, and mouth. Takashi hardly had a chance to say anything else. Hiei's fist caught him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. His fists seemed to rain down from the clouds, making Takashi stagger and sink to his knees smartly. Hiei was not holding back, making Takashi suddenly fearful when heard the sound of steel scraping loudly by his ear.

"Stop! You can't kill him!" Izo called over to Hiei.

"Finish healing your sister," Hiei responded. His sword was in his right hand. His knuckles were white around the hilt. "What did you do to her?" he questioned Takashi in a bone chilling voice.

"I didn't do anything!" Takashi shouted hoarsely. "It wasn't me!" Hiei grabbed him half way down the length of Takashi's hair. "It wasn't me! I didn't harm her!" His head was still yanked back sharply. Then he felt the kiss of cold steel slide across his neck at the bottom. "I'm not at fault!" He cracked out as he fell forward onto his hands and knees. He did not have to look up to know Hiei held most of his braid in hand. He could also smell its acrid scent as it burned in Hiei's hand.

He hardly fought back when he was shoved down onto his stomach. "If she dies, you die, coward. Don't you dare moved an inch until she's healed, either."

Takashi felt his face redden and eyes sting. If this was the thanks he got for rescuing her, he should have just left her to the wolf outlaws. Or rather just taken her to the village that was farther away.

"Father," Izo called over to him. Hiei turned to look over at the two of them. "I'm almost finished healing her, but she's still not out of the woods."

Hiei turned away from Takashi like he was no longer there. "Why?" he said, kneeling down next. "What happened?" he growled out.

From his spot on the ground, Takashi saw Hikari was still crying, but more with quiet whimpers than screaming now. "I... he..." she started, but did not finish when she succumbed to blubbering. Takashi dared not to move or say anything.

"Something bit her, with a large mouth. Long snout," Izo inferred. "Her wounds were lines of bite marks and cracked bones along her shoulder. The smell off the wound was off, almost sickening, so she's going to need medicine in case of an infection."

Hiei seethed a whistle through his teeth. "Why didn't you wash the wound out first."

Izo looked at him incredulous. "With what water? With what soap? She would loose too much blood before I got the chance to find anything like that."

Hiei snarled. He picked up the whimpering Hikari under her shoulders and knees and stood up like she weighed nothing. "I'll get her to the castle. You get Asa and get her to us immediately."

Hiei said nothing else. He did not even bother to look in Takashi's direction as he sprinted away at blinding speed.

The second Hiei was out of sight, Izo was on him, yanking Takashi up to a standing position. That was impressive considering Takashi was taller than he was. "What happened?" He shoved him against the nearest tree for good measure.

Takashi rushed out,"she ran away from me and ended up captured by the wolf outlaws. I saved her but she got bit by the leader."

Izo grabbed him by the front of the shirt and shoved him towards the direction of the village. "You're coming with me to the village," he decided.

Takashi did not know what to do or say, so he blindly obeyed. He started stumbling along in the direction of the village even with his legs feeling like jelly. It was a bit of shock to his system when he felt a chilled wind blow over him from behind. Then he felt a hand grab him by the back of the shirt and haul him up. Izo had his large, long ice dragon out and was riding it. It looked bigger than the time he rode it in the Demon King Tournament up to save Takashi's father, Hayate. Izo set him in front of him on his ice dragon on his stomach over the length of its back. It was like laying down on a block of moving ice. The instant Izo let go, Takashi felt himself slipping. Izo growled wordlessly behind him and then half helped, half man handled him into a straddling position around the ice dragon beneath him. Takashi leaned down, gripping with both his arms and legs as tightly as he could manage. He looked down, seeing the ground through the semi-transparent state as the ice dragon flew across the tree tops. Takashi had not even realized they were in the sky until then. He closed his eyes tightly and held on for dear life.

Before hardly anytime seemed to pass, they reached the village, right in front of the village healer's home. "Asa!" Izo shouted as he slipped off the ice dragon. Takashi noticed the ice dragon stayed in existence, but Izo kept his left hand firmly planted on its side. He probably could not let go, even if he wanted to.

The wolf healer opened the front door of her shop in a flurry. "What happened?" she rushed out.

"Hikari's been bitten. Badly. One of the wolf outlaws bit her. I healed her, but we didn't have time to wash the wound," Izo said quickly. He spoke so fast, Takashi could barely make out what he was saying.

Asa said nothing, but turned and ran back into her house without bothering to shut the door. She came back out in less than a minute with a large satchel dangling from one shoulder. Izo gave her a boost up his ice dragon, following right behind her. She sat directly behind Takashi and Izo sat directly behind her.

"What happened to you?" she asked Takashi, who was shivering slightly now. "The wolf outlaws?" she asked, voice dripping with grave concern.

"No," he grumbled, glancing behind his shoulder at the older woman. She was not exactly old, but was old enough to be Lady Nanashi's mother. "I killed them before they had a chance to touch me. His lordship happened to me." He turned his back to her, not wanting to discuss anymore.

They were flying now, and with dizzying speed towards the castle. Takashi tried closing his eyes, but that made him nauseous. He reopened his eyes, jumping as he felt a cool, dry hand come to the back of his neck. He did not look back, even as he felt the calm, fluttery feeling of being healed coursing through his body. Asa was healing him, without him even asking her to.

He thought about Hikari and her wounds, which were much more serious than his own. "Save your energy for Hikari," he said, muscles growing tense.

"Izo already healed her," Asa told him. "I was one of the ones who trained him. She won't need healing from me after him, but she will need medicine in case of any blood infection. She's prone to them. She nearly died once when she was a child."

Takashi felt his throat go tight and dry. They were almost to the castle anyway. She was going to get medicine and she was going to be fine, he willed.


	20. Chapter 20

Nanashi had taken Kaze to the Human World earlier in the day for a check up with the doctor. Hiei had insisted they happen and that she bring paperwork back from each one as proof of what happened. It always made her cross to do that, even though she understood why he did it.

Yet her crossness was taken to a whole new level that day when, after returning Kaze to his rooms for a nap before dinner, she could not find neither Hikari nor Takashi. She asked after them from Hotaka, only to find out that Hikari had been out training earlier with Izo, but Izo had come back to the castle alone.

So she tracked down Izo, having freshly showered and changed his clothes. He also looked like he had just recently woke up as well. When she asked him after his sister, he was surprised to hear she was not back yet. She had refused to come back with him after their training, being petty and picking a fight. He had left her with Takashi, who had been watching their fight. He figured they would have come right back to the castle by now.

He was taller than she was, but seemed to shrink down with the earful she gave him after finding all that out. Her shouting brought Hiei coming to them at a jog. He was also raging, all be it internally, at the news. His temper shone through his eyes and voice as he ordered Izo to go with him to find Hikari and instructed Nanashi to remain in the castle in case they came back while the two of them were out looking.

Nanashi waited anxiously on the front steps, pacing to and fro, trying not to fret. She could not sense Hikari out there, but she could sense Hiei and Izo looking for her. She could just barely sense Takashi out there, too. They still had not managed to get at the wolf outlaws. Nanashi just wanted to go track them down and take them out immediately because of the attacks and harassment they had done to the village, but Hiei wanted to be more cautious. Track them down when they were farther from the village and attack them as a group of four, rather than just her or him chasing them down. It was as if he feared a situation similar to the doxy ambush all those years ago.

From the steps, she finally noticed something that made her blood run cold. The faint sounds of screaming; Hikari's screaming. She started down the steps at a run, but halted at the bottom, knowing she needed to stay regardless of if she wanted to or not.

"Find her," she murmured out loud to Hiei and Izo, knowing they would never hear her.

The next several minutes that ticked by were a heavy burden to bare. She could hear Hikari screaming intermittently as the minutes ticked by. She kept her eyes locked on the direction the screaming was coming. The screams were getting softer, but she could tell they were getting closer to her. Hiei came running out of the woods with Hikari whimpering in his arms.

Nanashi nearly ran up to them, but thought better of it and ran up the stairs to through open the front door for Hiei. He kept running at his break neck speed. She ran after him at her painfully slower pace until she found him, breathless in Hikari's room. He sat her down on her bed, ripping off the sleeve that was a makeshift bandage around her neck and shoulder. He ripped off Hikari's sleeve as well, tearing away the ruined fabric around the wound that had already been healed.

"What happened?" Nanashi said, running over to them. "What happened? What happened?" her voice cracked in panic. He grabbed her, holding her tightly, even as she tried to get around him and to Hikari. "What happened?"

Hiei voice was more guttural than anything else. "She was bit by one of the members of the wolf outlaws. Izo healed her, but did not have the time or means to clean her wound first."

She must have calmed down enough for him because he let her go. She went around him and over to Hikari. Hikari was unconscious, but breathing heavily. Her face was pale and clammy, but the healed area on her shoulder was bright red. Infection.

She drew her knife from her hilt, knicking Hikari's shoulder, just enough for her to bleed.

"What are you doing?" Hiei asked, staying her hand.

"Helping her," she replied, summoning up her wind dragon. She shook his hand off of hers.

"You don't have to do this, Izo's on the way with Asa," Hiei told her.

Nanashi laid her hand on the shallow wound she made on Hikari's shoulder. Her wind dragon coiled down her arm and entered into the wound. Nanashi gasped at the heat of Hikari's blood. Her blood's heat ran hotter than Hiei's ever did when it was normal. It was hotter now that Hikari had an infection. Nanashi laid her hand down on the cut, even though the blood on the surface of it burned her hand. She bit back a whimper, telling herself she could handle the heat until Asa got there. She must.

Hiei grabbed her wrist, squeezing it hard, but not trying to yank it away from Hikari. "Stop," he requested. "You help fight of some of the infection yes, but your hand and wrist ended up with internal burns in the process last time. Wounds that hard to find and heal. Asa told you never to do this again."

Nanashi only responded by digging her nails into Hikari's shoulder. The heat hurt, but she could take it. So could her wind dragon. Hiei might not like what she was doing, but he would not dare stop her.

He did however breathe a sigh of relief when Asa, Izo, and even Takashi came running into Hikari's room. "My lady, don't," Asa called out to her. Asa did pry her hand away, making Nanashi remove her hand and wind dragon. "Izo, heal her," Asa instructed as she pushed Nanashi towards Izo.

Nanashi felt a slight sense of vertigo hit her, but she ignored it, making herself stand up straight. She stumbled her way to Izo, trying to ignore the malaise that seemed to settle down around her. "Mother, are you alright?" Izo asked, pulling her over to Hikari's small table and one of the two chairs by it. He was breathing a little more heavier than usual. Must have been all the running he did.

"I'm fine," she breathed out with fake confidence. She looked over to Asa and Hikari on the bed. Asa had set her satchel down on the bed and was rummaging through it. "My hand is burned, but only a little," she said.

Izo took her hand, healing it while he looked over at the bed, hardly blinking. Nanashi watched, too. Asa had dug out a tiny bottle of water from her satchel, put some powdered herbs in it, and shook it vigorously. She then sat down on the bed next to Hikari, pulling her up to a sitting position against her shoulder. She assisted Hikari to drink from the water bottle at a slow pace until she finished it. Hikari was semi-awake during the process, but only enough to shallow the drink. She leaned sleepily against Asa shoulder after that. Asa brought a tender hand to her forehead, checking her over. She laid Hikari back down on the bed, covering her with the blankets. She studied Hikari over, worry decorating her face.

"She will need more medicine, stronger medicine," Asa said somberly. "That was the strongest medicine I had in my stores for a blood infection, but it might not be enough."

"What are you saying?" Hiei asked her, concerned.

"Contact Kurama. Tell him we need strong doses of antibiotics for her from his medicinal company in the Human World," Asa determined. "I don't know what she has, but it's bacterial. I don't have enough medicine for her ready at the moment." Her words seemed to stop time for just a moment.

"I'll go," Nanashi said, even as her stomach rolled. She told herself that it was because she was worried about Hikari. That was all.

She rose up from her seated position and headed for the door. Halfway to the door, the ground gave a sudden lurch, making her loose her footing over the flat surface. She was falling by the time Takashi caught her. She looked up at him in a squint, trying to remember why and when he came into the room.

"My lady, are you alright?" he asked her. He sounded echo-y and far away.

She shook her head, leaning against his forearm. It was a rather large one at that. Was he always so muscular?

"She's infected, too," Asa said out loud. Nanashi felt her feet stumble for purchase on the ground.

"Her blood," Hiei said. "She came in contact with Hikari's blood. When she put her wind dragon in her blood stream. The infection must have gotten in that way." Nanashi's knees gave out beneath her. She felt like a limp puppet in Takashi's arms.

She felt herself sink lower to the ground, but not reach it. She opened her eyes, not realizing they had been closed. Light seemed to bore its way into the back of her skull, but her arm did not feel strong enough to shield her eyes from it. She looked up, seeing Hiei above, like his face was floating in the sky ahead. How did he get taller than Takashi?

"You not only let Hikari get sick, but Nanashi as well?" Hiei accused Takashi. He got her sick? How? When he touched her? She was not sick, just very dizzy.

"How dare you!" Takashi shouted loudly at Hiei. "I didn't bite either of them! It wasn't my nasty mouth that bit her." It was Takashi's fault? It was Takashi's fault...

"Izo," Hiei said, rounding on him. Nanashi felt the world sway sideways. "Contact Kurama. We need two doses of the strongest antibiotics he's got." A brief moment of silence passed, Nanashi closed her eyes again, feeling like the world kept spinning as she did. "What do you mean, no?" No? He had not said anything.

Nanashi heard someone sit down hard in one of the chairs Hikari had by her small table. "We need three doses," Izo wheezed out. "I don't feel well either," he confessed.

Nanashi felt the world rush up to meet her as she was set on the ground in rushed gentleness. She heard something hard hit the wall... hard... "I didn't do this!" she heard Takashi whine out.

Her vision was blurry. It took three good blinks to clear her vision enough to see Hiei holding Takashi against the wall.

"They're sick because of you," Hiei accused. "Should I go get Kaze so you can finish off every human or part human in the castle?"

"Hiei, don't. Please," she breathed as her face rested on the ground. The cold stone felt soothing in its own, hard and unrelenting way. She felt like heat was starting to flow throughout her body. Sleep... Sleep would help... Hiei still had Takashi though... "spare him... forgive him..." she exhaled.

Sleep, in its hot and stuffy glory, finally claimed her after that.


	21. Chapter 21

Takashi followed after Izo and Asa into Hikari's room, feeling very sober after all the things that had happened earlier today. On the fly back to the castle he told them the run down of what happened. Hikari picking a fight with him and him yelling at her when he lost his temper. How he went after her. How he found her. How he killed all the wolf outlaw members by himself without being harmed himself. The last part surprised them both. Izo looked like he did not want to believe him.

When they got into Hikari's room, it felt almost crowded. He watched Asa pull Lady Nanashi away from Hikari on the bed, scolding her for trying to help Hikari. He watched Izo, breathing deeply, guide Lady Nanashi to sit at a small table with two chairs across the room from Hikari's bed. He healed her hand while both of them looked over at Asa and Hikari on the bed.

Hikari lay there with her eyes closed. Someone had exposed the area where she was bit on her neck and shoulder. The spot the bite had been was red while the rest of her was sweaty and pale. He watched Asa give her a draft of herbs and water, but after Hikari had managed to drink it down in a semi-conscious state, Asa looked concerned.

Asa spoke, half sounding in defeat, "she will need more medicine, stronger medicine. That was the strongest medicine I had in my stores for a blood infection, but it might not be enough."

"What are you saying?" Hiei asked her. Takashi considered that this nightmare was about to get worse.

Asa determined, "contact Kurama. Tell him we need strong doses of antibiotics for her from his medicinal company in the Human World. I don't know what she has, but it's bacterial. I don't have enough medicine for her for something like this."

"I'll go," Nanashi said, deciding she would contact Kurama.

Takashi looked over at her, surprised to see how pale she now looked. She headed towards the door, but when she was close to him, she staggered sideways and fell against him. He caught her, trying to hold her up and steady her. "My lady, are you alright?" She hung her head and shook it. She leaned heavily against his left side.

"She's infected, too," Asa said what they all had just realized.

Hiei gasped. "Her blood. She came in contact with Hikari's blood. When she put her wind dragon in her blood stream. The infection must have gotten in that way."

Lady Nanashi's feet slipped out from under her. Takashi pulled her closer, holding her against him. Hiei stepped over to the two of them, pulling Lady Nanashi away from him. He held her under her shoulders, but let her lower legs sink to the floor. Her feet did not even try to find purchase on the ground.

Hiei was not looking at her though. He was staring daggers up at Takashi. His red eyes seemed to bore into Takashi's soul with fire and fury. "You not only let Hikari get sick, but Nanashi as well?"

This was not his fault. "How dare you!" he shouted down at the shorter lord, wishing he was not so intimated by him. "I didn't bite either of them! It wasn't my nasty mouth that bit her." Takashi recalled the noxious smell that had come from the leader's mouth. How it had made him want to throw up by the scent alone. Whatever nasty thing that had bred in there was now in both Hikari's and Nanashi's blood, infecting them.

Hiei broke his gaze on Takashi, looking over to Izo by the small table. "Izo, contact Kurama. We need two doses of the strongest antibiotics he's got." Takashi nearly swore aloud when he looked over at Izo. He was leaning against the table, blinking like his eyes pained him. He shook his head slightly. "What do you mean, no?"

Izo slumped into the chair Lady Nanashi had sat in previously. He swallowed, looking suddenly very nervous. "We need three doses. I don't feel well either."

Hiei moved so fast after that that Takashi hardly registered the movement. He had Nanashi laying on the ground and Takashi slammed against the wall behind him in the span of one blink. Takashi hissed out, "I didn't do this!" as his back made rough contact with the wall. Hiei pinned him there, forearm pressed painfully against his lower rib cage. He felt like he could barely breath. He thought for sure he meant to kill him this time.

"They're sick because of you," Hiei spoke venomously. "Should I go get Kaze so you can finish off every human or part human in the castle?" His sarcasm was just cruel. He pressed harder into Takashi's rib cage. Takashi wondered how long it would take for him to crack one. How long it would take for him to stop hurting and try to kill him.

"Hiei, don't. Please," the softest, murmuring voice came from the ground. Lady Nanashi's voice. Hiei applied less pressure against Takashi's rib cage. His ears drew back and his eyes went wide. His breathing was more like hissing. "Spare him... forgive him..."

Hiei shook his head and stepped two steps away from Takashi. He gave a wordless grunt and punched him across the jaw. That blow brought him down to his hand and knees. He expected more to follow as they had previously, or something worse.

He felt a hand grabbed what remained of his loose hair from the back and yank it back aggressively. "If any of the three of them die, don't think for a second I'll spare you," he threatened. He let his hair go. "I'm going to contact Kurama. You will stay here."

"I'll help Asa," Takashi promised.

"Good, because you don't have a choice in the matter," Hiei informed him. "If one of them dies, you will, too."

Hiei had left the room at a sprint after that, leaving the door open in his wake. Takashi panicked, half wanting to run away himself. He stood up shakily instead, not meeting Izo nor Asa's eyes. He saw Lady Nanashi still laying on the ground where Hiei had left her. He considered picking her up and putting her in the bed next to Hikari, but Hikari's bed was only big enough for her. He reached down and adjusted how she lay so she lay in the recovery position. After that, leaned his back against the wall in a sitting position. He ran his hands through his hair, hating how short it was now. It barely brushed his shoulders. He brought his hand over his eyes, willing them to stop stinging.

He pulled his hand away from his face in a rush when Hiei came back to the room, with Hotaka and his mate, Sayuri behind him. "Kurama's on his way. The three of them need to be quarantined from each other until they are better so neither one of the can accidentally reinfect another." He nodded over to Izo who stood up shakily. "Izo, you'll go to your room with Hotaka and Sayuri to look after you until you are well." He stepped over to where Lady Nanashi lay on the ground and scooped her up in his arms. "Asa and myself will look after Nishi in the spare bedroom next door. Asa, if you have anything you can give Nanashi, you give it to her now, says Kurama. She's full blooded human, so the infection seems to be taking a harder toll on her."

Asa rose off the bed. "I should stay with Hikari, my lord," she protested.

"Kurama will stay with her," Hiei countered. "As will Takashi. He got her into this mess, he will take care of her until she is well."

After those decisions were made, they were implemented. Takashi did not like how it felt to be alone with a semi conscious Hikari, but decided to say nothing against it less Hiei become anymore cross.

Being left alone with Hikari was intense. He felt so uncomfortable or squeamish, that he went into Hikari's bathroom. He ran the tap and ran his hands under the cool water to calm himself. He did not want to be here, in this situation. He turned off the tap and knelt down in front of the sink. He did not want to do this. He did not want to be in this room alone with her. And yet he had to be.

Takashi stood shakily, watching the water trickle slowly down the drain like it was partially clogged. He dried his hands off with her hand towel. Then he looked at the towel, thinking hard and laboriously. He took the towel, dunked a third of it in the water, and grabbed her bar of soap laying idle in the soap dish.

He left the bathroom and went over to Hikari's side. He loomed over her shakily. She did not open her eyes or react to him at all. She was breathing deeply in and out of her mouth. He bent down over her and clumsily washed off her shoulder and neck. He winced when he saw how the bloodied water trickled down her chest, pillow, and blankets, but he did not know what else to do. He wiped it up the bloodied water the best he could with the dry side of the towel.

When the front side was finished, he pushed her upper body and then, like an after thought, her lower body to her right side. She whimpered at him, but did nothing else. He washed the wound on the back of her neck and shoulder. He rolled her back onto her back after he was finished.

When he was finished, he went back to her bathroom, set the soap back in its dish, and did his best to rinse her blood out of the hand towel. A stubborn pale pink stain remained it, refusing to be rinsed away not matter how much or long he tried.

When he gave up on that, he hung the towel halfway in the sink to dry while he waited impatiently in Hikari's room for something else, anything else, to happen. The clocked ticked slowly by, driving him near crazy. She could not die. He could not let her die. Yet he felt helpless to stop her from doing that.

This Kurama, an odd demon who lived in a human's skin, arrived not even two hours later with antibiotics from the Human World. He was the first person to come in the room after the others had left. He carried a bag on his back. Takashi had mixed feelings of both relieved and intimidated when he say him. After stilted and stifled introductions, Kurama got to work.

Kurama had already past off the medicine to the other two rooms, and now set to give some to Hikari.

"Can she swallow anything?" Kurama asked him clinically.

"I- I don't know," Takashi answered. "She did earlier. Herbs and water mixed together that Asa gave her." He started to miss the time spent alone with Hikari.

"Help her sit up," Kurama told him somberly. "Rouse her." His direct intensity made Takashi too frightened to even think of disobeying.

Takashi climbed into the bed next to Hikari, pushing her over to make room for himself first. Next, he pulled her upper body up against his. She grumbled at him nonsensically and did nothing to help him get her up. Once he had her leaning against him oh so carefully, he nodded over to Kurama without disturbing her. She was so close to him and so warm. He was unsure if she was so warm because she was sick, or because she was a fire demoness.

"Wake her," Kurama said, more as a grumble than as a request. He knelt down on the other side of Hikari, shaking her right shoulder and saying softly, "Hikari." She whined, turning her head away from Kurama and into Takashi's shoulder. He persisted. "Hikari," he said a little more firmly.

She batted her eyelids open, looking first up at Takashi. She looked up at him wordlessly. Her face was flushed. She turned her head and neck over towards Kurama. "Uncle Kurama?" she said, confused by what she saw.

"You need to take these," he said, proffering the medicine in its sachet and a bottle of water. "You are very sick."

She looked at his face for a while before reaching over to Kurama. She took the medicine sachet, struggling to tear it open. Takashi reached a gentle hand and took it from her. She frowned and resisted slightly as he pulled the sachet from her hand. He opened it for her and handed her the tablets one at a time. She took them as offered and swallowed them down almost painfully. When she finished, she leaned her head back down on Takashi's shoulder. She closed her eyes as if without a care. He was unsure just how uncomfortable that was. He liked it, maybe, but in a weird way. He decided not to move, for now at least.

"She's better than I thought," Kurama commented, cleaning up the now empty sachet and half full water bottle. "Whatever Asa gave her must have worked well."

"How are the others?" Takashi asked, worried about Lady Nanashi more than anything else.

Kurama hummed under his breath. "Izo is hardly sick, just taking the medicine as a precaution." He lapsed into a dark silence after that.

"And Lady Nanashi?" Takashi asked, nervous about the answer.

"Asa says they can't get her awake," Kurama sighed out. "They plan to crush up the tablets and wash them down her throat."

Takashi gasped, frightened at that thought. "Maybe her rest will help her."

Kurama looked at him, cold and calculating. "Hopefully."

"How much medicine did you bring for each of them?" Takashi asked, wondering how long he would be stuck, no helping, Hikari.

"Three days for Nanashi and Hikari. Two for Izo," Kurama answered. "What exactly happened?"

Takashi had no desire to explain. He laid Hikari back down to the bed, but stayed seated next to her. He did not want to move away from her just yet. "Well... I was watching her and Izo spar..." He willed himself to explain everything rather than skipping anything that made him ashamed. When he got to the part where he killed all the wolf outlaws, Kurama did seem very impressed, making him go off on a tangent. "... I, yes. A bow and arrow is what I am best at, fighting wise. Or least that is what my father has said time and again. He trained me so hard at it. 'Shoot faster, aim faster,' he would say. If I went too slow or shot too poorly, he would knock me down and tell me an enemy got me."

"Intensive way to ensure you can ensure your own survival," Kurama commented softly. "Worked in your favor today. As well as Hikari's."

"Not according his lordship..." Takashi griped, continuing on in his explanation as to what happened. Kurama did look a little cross when Takashi explained each time Hiei attacked him and blamed what happened to Hikari, and then also Lady Nanashi and Izo.

Kurama sighed, muttering under his breath. "He shouldn't... He should have heard you out first, but with what he saw at first glance. He's protective to a fault."

"A very big fault, it seems," Takashi grumbled. He reached up to the end of his hair and wondered how long until he could braid it again. He did nothing to cowardly to warrant that. Especially from a kinsman no doubt. "I hate him," he admitted meekly.

Kurama made no response to that statement. Takashi figured he could not find any words worth saying. Instead, he cleaned up the empty sachet and water bottle.

Once that was done, Takashi ventured to ask him a most curious question. "From what I've heard of you, you are not a doctor. How did you manage to get a hold of medicine like this so fast?"'''

Kurama looked over at him as he sat down in a chair next to the small table. He dug out his bag, pulling out the sachets of medicine for Hikari. He checked them over as he answered, "my step father owns a prosperous company in the Human World. I convinced him to let me head part of the company in which invests and researches in pharmaceuticals. Specifically medicines against illness crossing from the Demon World to the Human World and vice versa. Very profitable and important as it seems."

Takashi blinked over at him. "Do you know what's wrong with them?" He added in, "it's not my fault, whatever it is.''

"Blood contamination from a sick Demon World animal. It sounds like from what you described, the wolf outlaws were eating under cooked meat, the bacteria from it got in Hikari's blood from the bite wound and then passed out the infection when Nanashi and Izo came in contact with her blood. If it is the bacteria I was thinking of, humans are more vulnerable to it than demons are."

"Will they all three be okay?" Takashi asked, hoping for a positive answer.

"Time will tell," Kurama only answered.

Takashi jumped when he heard a servant knock on the door. Kurama went to the door, letting two of the castle's servants in with blankets and pillows and dinner for the three of them to eat. The blankets and pillows were set on the stone floor while the food was placed on the table. Takashi looked at the food, finding little desire to eat. He doubted Hikari could eat either. He looked down at her while he heard Kurama talk with the servants. Kurama spoke so familiarly with them in tone, but Takashi hardly listened. He studied Hikari's face, trying to gauge if she was getting better or not. He hoped she was. She still looked pale. He had also never noticed her face was heart shaped starting at the crest of her shallow widow's peak. Maybe it was because she was boasting so much, he never noticed. She was so quiet now with her sleeping. He wanted to see her crimson eyes open again, to study them the way he was studying her face now.

"I said, are you hungry?" Kurama said, startling Takashi out of his study. Takashi jumped, noticing Kurama standing right next to him. Takashi looked around him, trying to see where the servants left. They must have left without him realizing.

He yawned, feeling a wave of sleepiness wash over him. Shaking his head, he replied, "no, just tired." He realized just how weary his bones felt.

"Rest then," Kurama told him. Takashi looked up at him, surprised by the permissiveness coming from him. "You and I are to stay with Hikari until she is better. We'll alternate sleeping for two hours shifts tonight. And tomorrow night as well if need be."

Takashi thought about grumbling at the idea of that, but said nothing. He nodded silently in agreement. He rose up, a little unwillingly, from the bed and went to the blankets and pillows. There were four blankets and two pillows he noticed. He laid one of the blankets on the floor, threw one of the pillows down on top of it. Next, he brought himself down on the blanket while pulling another blanket over top of him. Takashi found the stone floor hard, but bearable with a thick blanket beneath him and over top of him. He felt like he would hardly sleep at all when he closed his eyes.


	22. Chapter 22

The night seemed to drag on at two hours increments for Takashi. He came to treasure the moments where he woke Kurama up and loathed the moments when Kurama woke he up. When dawn finally came, so did another dose of medicine for Hikari.

Takashi noticed she did have a little more color under her skin each time he stayed up with her at night. They were also able to get her to wake up for her second dose and even sit up on her own unassisted. That did not prevent Takashi from sitting next to her though as she took the medicine. Kurama tried to persuade her to eat something in case the medicine was rough on her stomach, but she refused, saying all she wanted to do was go back to sleep. It took Takashi going to the tray of food that was brought for their breakfast and getting a bland piece of toast from it for her to get her to eat just that. She refused to make eye contact with either of them as she quickly ate as if to please him. She went back to sleep afterwards, not saying anything.

The rest of day played out the same. Coaxing her awake to eat or take medicine or to do anything she could do to take care of herself. Kurama managed to coax out of her her side of the story, which seemed to embarrass her into apologizing to Takashi.

She had said it while he sat next to her, holding a plate of food for her to eat for dinner that was gentle on her stomach.

"I... I'm sorry... for teasing you, and for the rocks," she said, not looking up at him. "Thank you," she said, daring herself to look up at him, meeting his eyes. "For saving me."

He stared into her eyes, sensing like an afterthought that it was too long a length of time. They were red, yes, but with undertones of soft pink. They were blazing now, like they usually did when she was angry. Rather, they were soft like the glow of a warm sunset.

"You're welcome, my lady," he said formally.

She turned and looked away, continuing to nibble on her own meal. He watched, feeling self conscious as he felt Kurama watching both of them as well.

When Kurama stood up abruptly and went to the window, resting his hands on the sill. He back was rigid and his whole body looked tense.

"What's wrong?" Hikari called out to him.

He turned around, a haunting look on his face. "Takashi, come with me," he ordered, heading out the door and into the hallway.

Takashi watched from his seat next to Hikari on the bed. He passed her her plate. "I'm sure it's fine," he lied, standing up. He brought a gentle hand over and brushed a few stray hairs out of her face and behind the crook of her ear.

He walked out of the room and into the hallway with Kurama. Kurama shut the door slowly and carefully behind him. He turned back towards and Takashi and stepped over to him, stopping closer to him than Takashi would have liked.

"Hikari is recovering, but she's not better yet. She needs to finish the course of medicine on time before she can risk seeing anyone who is not fully demon," Kurama explained in a low whisper. "She still needs someone with her to take care of her in case something goes array."

"I know that," Takashi said, voice getting softer when Kurama raised a hand into the air. "We'll be with her, you and I. We can make sure of that."

Kurama shook his head. "You're going to have to make sure of that now." He pursed his lips. "Hiei and I have been communicating on and off mentally. Izo is fine and should be recovered by morning. Nanashi won't wake up though. Hiei has decided to take her to a Human World hospital and I am going with them."

Takashi stuttered out, "but I saw..." he was unsure how to finish that sentence.

Kurama brought his hands down on Takashi's shoulders. "You have to stay with Hikari and make sure she recovers. I don't know how long we will be gone."

The door to the spare room next door where Nanashi had been opened. Asa's distressed voice resounded within it, "you can't take her to the Human World. You run the risk of bringing the disease there and spreading it."

Hiei emerged from the room with Nanashi cradled in his arms. She was so pale, almost ashen and lifeless. "We're going. Doctors deal with diseases that are blood born everyday and it's fine."

Asa followed him, but stayed standing in the doorway. "She wouldn't want that."

"She wouldn't want to die either," Hiei countered. He turned away from Asa and to Kurama. "Ready?"

Kurama nodded. The two of them took off at a run down the hall.

Takashi called after them, "wait!" He ran after them. Only Kurama bothered to stop long enough to hear him out. He rushed out. "I've seen her. I've seen her grow old. I've seen her with gray hair and nearly blind in old age. She's going to survive this."

"What? What are you talking about?" Kurama asked him bewildered.

Before Takashi had a chance to explain, both of them heard Hiei shout for him. Kurama clicked his teeth, turned back around, and ran after Hiei and Nanashi without another word.


	23. Chapter 23

'She'll be fine, she'll be fine, she'll be fine,' Takashi told himself as he went back into Hikari's bedroom by himself. He wondered what Asa was doing and whether or not she would come and join him in caring for Hikari.

He stopped dead in his wondering when he say Hikari sitting on the ground by her bathroom door. She sat down, panting. In the time that he and Kurama were out in the hall, she had changed into a fresh pair of pajamas.

"What are you doing? Are you alright?" he asked in concern. He went over to her and knelt down beside her.

"I'm fine," she told him softly. "I just wanted to wear something not blood stained," she explained. She reached her hands up to him. "I didn't think doing so would make me so tired." The look and her eyes asking him for assistance.

He took both of her hands and pulled her up as he stood up. She swooned against him slightly. He took the time to notice her hands were firm, yet strong. She had long, yet delicate fingers. He assisted her to bed where she sat propped up.

He left her there, disliking having to let her hand go. He went to the table, grabbing her next sachet of medicine and a glass of water given to them earlier by servants. He brought them over to her, tearing the sachet along the top and handing her the tablets one at a time until they were all consumed by her.

It was then she asked him the question he was dreading to hear. "Where's my uncle?"

He cleared up the empty sachet and water bottle, bringing them back to the table. "He is... with your parents," he said steadily.

She sat up a little straighter. "Why?" she asked, voice tight and anxious. He hummed under his breath, unsure what to say. He went over to her on the bed and sat down next to her. "Tell me," she insisted. Her hand found its way to his forearm, holding onto it.

"Your mother is still very sick. Wouldn't awaken. Your father decided to take her to a hospital in the Human World. Kurama went with them," he told her truthfully.

She was suddenly breathing heavily, rapidly, and noisily. "No," she gasped out, shaking her head as she began to cry. "You're lying!" she punched him on the forearm. "Why would you lie like that?" She threw her head down on his shoulder, crying into it. He was no expecting such a quick and extreme reaction to the news. He turned towards her, pulling her over to him so she could lean against his chest. He brought his arms around her, holding her close to soothe her. "It's all- all- all my fault," she stuttered out.

"It's not your fault," he told her, knowing full well her father blamed him.

She spoke in between sharp inhales, "It is. I ran off. I was bit. She was only. Trying to help. Now she's dead. Because of me."

He sighed, bringing a soothing hand to the back of her head and running it through her hair. "She's not." He debated internally before saying, "I've seen her live into a ripe old age."

She shook her head against his chest. "Don't lie to me. I'm not a child," she growled at him.

"I'm not lying," he told her softly. "You know I am a mix of both my parents abilities, rather than one dominant over the other," he began. "From my father, wind demon no doubt. Yet from my mother, the unknown and unique abilities that can affect the mind, soul, or will." She was whimpering a little less, but clung to him still. He took that as a sign she was listening. "My mother can bless or curse someone once. Else wise, I can get a glimpse of someone's future once. It can't be accidentally done like with my mother, otherwise I would wear gloves all the time as she does. I consciously do it. Your mother let me do it for her. I saw her old." He pictured the memory of the vision in his mind. "Her hair was grey and white. Her face wrinkled. She will survive this."

She looked up at him then, both fierce and vulnerable. "Are you certain? Prove it," she requested. She had calmed down a little bit, pulling herself away and sitting up straighter. She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.

"How?" he asked, not sure how he could pass the vision onto her.

She looked down at his bare hands. "My father was upset that you read her future."

'Of course he was,' he thought to himself silently.

"My brothers and I were told never to let you do it to us," she said. "Yet... I want to know. If you say she'll live, that I haven't killed her, show your ability. Show me how real and accurate it is."

She raised her head up and held her hand out in the space between them, daring him to do it. He was unsure if he should do it or not. Her father would hate him for it, but he hated him anyway. He took her hands, deciding it would bring her some comfort if he did it. He closed his eyes summoning up the power at will. He kept control over his breathing as he let the vision wash over him.

When it was over, he jumped up from the bed, as if shocked. "What is it? What did you see of me?" she asked in a sleepy rush.

He shook his head, stepping away from her and breathing in a way to keep himself calm. He was scaring her now, but there was nothing she needed to be scared of. He spoke amidst trying to stay calm, "You're mated and you're happy." That was all he said.

"To who?" she asked, suddenly more focused on that.

"I, I didn't see who it was. Just like, the mate bite on your neck," he lied. He stepped over to her next to the bed. He brought his hand over to her hair, brushing a few stray hairs behind her ear. "You're going to be fine. And so is your mother. That proof enough."

The two of them jumped when they heard a knock on the door. Takashi stepped back away from her, but stood near the head of the bed.

"Come in," Hikari called over the space between her and the door.

The door opened and in walked Asa, the wolf healer. "With your parents and uncle in the Human World, I came to check on you my lady." She looked solemn and internally distressed. "I did not come in contact with your mother's blood, so I am not a risk to reinfecting you."

"Yes," Hikari said softly. "I'm sure Takashi would like some help now that my uncle is gone." She yawned very sleepily. She needed to rest still, even if she was a lot better than she was.

"You need to rest," Takashi told her, feeling more reserved with Asa in the room with them. "You as well ma'am," he said to Asa, who looked tired herself. "I'll stay up with her on the first watch."

"I'm okay-" Asa started.

"Please," Takashi said, wanting to be alone, or as close to alone as possible right now. The two of them asleep at the same time would be the best he was going to get.

Asa agreed tiredly. She lay on the floor in Kurama's makeshift bedding. She fell asleep quickly, as if exhausted.

It took Takashi a little bit of coaxing to get Hikari to sleep as well, even though she was exhausted as well. He had to remind her a few more times that he saw her mother's future and that her mother would survive her illness. He was not sure if she believed him quite yet.

Once the both of them were asleep, he went into Hikari's bathroom and turned on the tap so that cold water could run over his hands to calm himself. He tried not to make himself panic, unsure how he felt about what he had seen in his vision of Hikari's future... He had seen her with a mate bite on her neck. He had also seen her noticeably pregnant. The third thing he had also seen was her leaning against him with his arms around her.


	24. Chapter 24

Takashi tried to let Asa sleep as long as he could while he resumed his perch next to Hikari on her bed. He kept thinking of the image he had seen of her future over and over in his mind. She was going to be mated and have a child. She had leaned her back against his chest. He was holding her. She had looked up at him with her eyes shining brightly. A look of love, if he was not mistaken. It was such a spoiler for his life. He understood now why his parents told him not to use his ability casually. He wondered if anyone else's life felt spoiled like his life did right now.

He looked down at Hikari as she slept, studying her as if with new eyes. He wounded if he could escape the vision, but he was unsure now if he even wanted to try to evade it. Or he could take steps to make it happen. Or he could just not make any decisions and let it happen.

"What should I do?" he thought aloud. He wished his mother was nearby so he could ask her what to do. Or even Hikari's mother. Ask her what to do. He was scared of the idea that Hikari's father would find out by reading his mind. That would be just a nightmare. Her father would probably do everything in his power to stop it from happening.

"What did you say?" Hikari asked sleepily next to him. He had not even realized she was awake. It was the dead of night.

"Nothing," he replied, casting a side long glance over the Asa. He was groggy himself, but he wanted her to sleep as long as possible. He thought she had hardly slept while taking care of Lady Nanashi. Maybe an hour or two and then they could switch. "Why are you awake?" he asked her curiously.

"I'm thirsty," she replied, sitting up.

He went over to the table and fetched her a glass of water from it. He brought it over to her and handed it to her. She sipped at it, talking intermittently. "Let Asa sleep as long as you can... She's worried about my mother... Father once said Asa sees Mother as the child she never had... I can't imagine how she worried she is... When you wake her, tell her of your vision of my mother... So she can know she survives, please." She set the unfinished water down on her nightstand on the right side of the bed.

He looked down at her, his vision of her running through his mind. He opened his mind to the possibility of it happening, but feeling too scared to act on it.

"What are you staring at?" she asked.

"Nothing," he shook his head. He sat back down next to her, but did not look over at her. "Just noticing that you are feeling better," he blathered out.

It was in that moment that she grabbed his arm, making him turn so she could lay her head against his chest. She was still rather warm. He felt flushed by her heat.

He looked over at Asa, seeing she was still asleep. He looked down at Hikari, feeling the temptation to kiss her. If he did, he knew where that road would lead. If he did not, he know where that road would likely lead anyway. She looked back up at him, frowning slightly in curiosity.

He closed his eyes, trying to decide what to do. He gasped softly when he felt her lips brush against his in the briefest kiss. Before he could respond or kiss back, she brought her face down to his shoulder and chest, nuzzling him. From what he could see of her face and ears, she was red from blushing. He cautiously brought his arm around her. She did nothing to show it was an unwelcome move on his part.

When he started to shift his numb arm, she noticed. She said against his chest, "wake Asa when you are too tired and let yourself rest for a few hours."

She pulled herself away from him, not meeting his eyes shyly. She bit her lip, giving him the temptation to lean down and kiss her all over again. She looked up at him for just a split second before turning to lay back down.

She looked back at him, giving a short laugh. "You scared or shy?" she teased him. The look she was giving him was making his heart beat a little faster.

He cleared his throat, not sure what to say. "I..."

"Both," she said with a confident smile on her face as she snuggled herself down on her bed. She turned to face him though, her confident smile still draped all over her face.


	25. Chapter 25

Takashi felt a bit jealous at how Asa doted over Hikari over the course of the next two days. She recovered well, much to Takashi's relief. He would have preferred that he could dote on her instead.

Her brother had recovered a day earlier than Hikari did, coming to visit and to speak with her. He had received news from the Human World that their mother was recovering as well in quarantine, but the outlook for it would be two weeks, if not more. Their father planned to stay with her until she could return home. Their uncle did return to the Demon World though to help with running the castle until their parents returned home.

It left Takashi with no idea when he would get to be alone with Hikari again with Asa, her brother, and her uncle around her. Not to mention her youngest brother, Kaze, who had been kept away from his family lest he get sick as well. Kaze had been overjoyed to see his sister when she had recovered. Takashi had gone with her to Kaze's rooms. Kaze only had eyes for Hikari though, demanding her attention for such a long time for cuddling, playing, and constant questions about where their parents were.

Takashi sat with them, not so much minding the toddler's devotion to his sister. He did have the blushing thought cross his mind that he did like the look of her caring for a child.

He kept thinking of the kiss she gave him, wanting her to do it again. Yet being alone with her had not been possible since the minute Asa took up Kurama's mantle in carrying for Hikari.

Kurama. Takashi could not find anything against him, nor did he think Kurama could find anything against him either. Kurama took charge of the castle for them, but often had Hikari and also Izo helping him with it. He had called on Hikari since this was her castle and territory in name, but her parents had not quite given her complete reins over it yet. According to Izo, they had planned to wait four and half more years, when he and Hikari were twenty-one. Then she would take full control herself.

Takashi wondered what would happen if she did not though. If she did not end up inheriting Alaric. If she were to take up the mantle of a higher calling, a higher ranking. That would mean Kaze would have to take over Alaric until she had a child, no a second child. The first child would inherit something higher. If it did. If it all played out the way Takashi's mind was now reeling.

Much to Takashi's disappointment, Hikari ended up excusing herself to go to bed early, saying she was still exhausted from her illness. He stayed up later with Izo, Kurama, and Asa, not really following the game they ended up playing that evening. He had not even realized he had lost nor that Izo had won the game until it was concluded.

When he retired to his own room to go to bed, he gasped at the sight of Hikari laying on his bed, clothed in her pajamas. She was sleeping on top of the sheets, arms wrapped around the pillow she also managed to lay her head on. She woke up groggily, blinking over at him as he shut the door.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her, leaning against the door to close it. Once it clicked shut, he dared not move his back away from it.

"Scared or shy?" she asked him, sitting on his twin bed. She had a coy, demure look playing in her eyes.

"I..." he tried to speak.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed, letting them dangle, toes scuffing at the stone floor. She looked up at him expectantly. When he did not move, she rose up from the bed, closing the distance between the two of them.

"Both?" she teased confidently when she came to root herself right in front of him.

She brought her hands up to his shoulders and raised herself up to the balls of her feet. She kissed him once more. Not a short peck this time, but rather a long and full one. This time he had enough time and sense to kiss her back.

He gasped nervously as she slipped her tongue into his mouth playfully. He had no idea what to do or how to react to her.

She pulled away slowly, hands sliding down his arms to take his own in hers. She started to slowly back away, trying to pull him along with her. He flinched back, wanting to stay against the door. It felt like a wiser idea. In his reaction, he had let her hands go and rested them against the door behind him.

"What's wrong?" she asked. She sounded wounded. She had misread his reaction.

"It's not you," he rushed out soothing. "It's just..." he lapsed into silence, not sure what to say. She looked so tempting. He wanted her to keep kissing him anew.

"Have you ever done anything like this before?" she asked softly.

He felt his face flush as he shook his head. "No. Have you?" He hoped she would say no as well.

She smirked up at him teasingly. "If I did, would that bother you?" He met her eyes timidly. "Was that your first, no second kiss?"

"And what..." he tried to tease her back, but he could barely breathe, let alone talk. "Yes," he admitted.

She stepped back over to him, retaking his hands in hers. "No one wished for the prince of the Demon World to kiss her? That I find hard to believe." She kissed, a mere peck on the lips really. "Third one."

He closed his eyes, trying to will himself to behave himself. "They all seemed to prefer Shura," he admitted. He felt that jealousy and all other jealousies at his rival resurfaced. Women preferred him, his father preferred him. He also felt guilt rise up at the memory of how he got back at Shura in those moments of jealousy.

"We could just sleep then," she said, breaking him out of his pity party. She kissed him sweetly once more. "I have not done everything. Human boys and part demon boys at school are too intimidated at the thought... at the thought." She stepped away from him, saying. "If you want me to leave, open the door. If you want me to stay, go lay on the bed."

"I... you hardly expect me to sleep in my clothes, do you?" he managed to tease out.

"Move quickly then," she told him as she headed back to his bed. "I am still rather sleepy."

He got himself ready for bed quickly, changing his clothes intentionally in his bathroom. He felt frightened, but excited at the idea of sleeping next to her.

She lay on the side of his bed. He climbed into bed with her, scared at what she might do or try. He did not want to do anything they should not until they were mated.

Luckily, all she did once he laid down tensely beside her, was kiss him once more and lay her head down on his chest.

He could hardly sleep that night because every time she moved, he woke up. He hardly moved himself in hopes not to wake her up.

In the morning, she woke early before anyone else in the castle would be and snuck back into her room. Not before kissing him goodbye of course.

The next day he was near her as much as she seemed comfortable with. He kept trying to read her for annoyance with him, but he could not catch one.

At night, she snuck her way into his room. This time around, she was later than usual. He had already gotten himself dressed and ready for bed. She climbed into bed with him, excited smirk on her face. She raised her upper body over his, bringing a hand to rest on his chest as she kissed him.

He lay beneath her, too nervous to make a move lest it distract her. Her tongue slide into his mouth with ease. He liked it.

Her hand on his chest danced along his side, up and down, until it got to the bottom of his shirt. He panicked, his hand coming up to hers and stopping her.

She pulled her hand away and set it back down at the center of his chest. She kissed her way from his mouth, along his jaw, and brought her mouth above his ear. "We'll go as far as you want," she said.

He carefully pulled her face back to his mouth, kissing her again. He rolled her over onto her back, making her gasp in excitement. He shook as he kissed her, trying to keep himself under control. They were not mated yet. "Just sleeping then," he said. She looked disappointed up at him, but nodded.

They kept up the same routine over the course of the next two weeks. Kisses and laying side by side in his bed. Sleeping next to each other. She seemed to prefer to sleep against his chest while he lay down on his back. She seemed to want more from him, but once he told her he wanted to wait until matehood, she seemed excited, yet more patient with him at that idea.

What he enjoyed almost as much as the kisses was the conversations he was able to get out of her. She was taciturn at first, but more talkative as the nights went on. He felt like he could tell her anything and everything without any judgement on her part.

It was blissful two weeks, until her parents returned.


	26. Chapter 26

At first when Hikari snuck into Takashi room, she managed to leave early enough so that no one else in the castle was the wiser. Yet this morning was a Satuday. The day the castle and its inhabitants slept later than usual. Hikari woke herself up early to be cautious, but instead of sneaking off like she usually did, she stayed, waking him up.

She shocked him awake when her lips came to his. "Shouldn't you be off?" he asked between kisses.

"Everyone will sleep late today," she replied.

She kissed her mouth down to his neck, making him gasp. She did not use her teeth, which he liked. She was thorough though, but without leaving a mark. He did not want her biting him, even though she longed for him to bite her.

It was as if a rush of boldness finally surged through him. He rolled her over so that he was above, looking down. He kissed her along the neck the way she did to him. He brought his hand under the blanket. He rested his hand on her hip, daring to touch the skin left uncovered by her raised up shirt. She sighed, enjoying the feeling of his hand finally truly touching her.

"Bite," she rasped out in longing.

"You know I can't," he replied against her neck.

"You can, but you won't," she grumbled.

"One day," he soothed. "One day."

"I'd rather it be right now," she sighed in a voice that he knew meant giving in. He always said later, later, later.

He moved the hand on her hip boldly, making her feel a fire quickening in her veins. He stroked along her stomach gently. He kissed along her neck, shoulder, and face.

There was a sharp rasp on his bedroom door, making both of them jump then freeze. Hikari pushed him off of her as she rolled off the bed in one swift motion. It took him a moment to realize she was hiding herself away under his bed. She dared not even breathe in her hiding place around the dust bunnies stowed away with her. Thankfully he was not stupid enough to call after her.

Takashi climbed out of the bed, straightening himself out before he got to the door. He opened the door, saying, "ye-"

His voice cut off mid word. "Where is she?" Father's voice sounded. Hikari cringed at his tone, feeling sorry for Takashi being on the receiving end of it.

"Where's who?" Takashi fumbled for the lie and voiced it without really thinking. She could have kicked him for such a stupid lie.

"Get out here, now," he said, but not to Takashi. Hikari willed herself not to move, not to make even a sound. "I can sense you," he growled over at the direction of the bed.

She knew it was no use. Hikari came out from under the bed solemnly. She stood up, but did not look at either of them.

Father stared her down hard. "Your mother and I have just returned from the Human World. She's asked to see you."

Hikari said nothing, walking towards the door. When she realized Father had no intention to follow her out, nor Takashi, she panicked. She did not think it wise to leave Father alone with Takashi.

She turned back to Takashi, grabbing his hand firmly. "Come on," she said, tugging him along.

Her poor, dumbstruck boy was wise enough to follow her lead where he could not be tormented. She had learned well enough that he was much too sensitive to face Father's wrath unshielded. She would shield him and also use Mother as a shield against Father, too. He would never act against Mother if he could help it.

Hikari led Takashi at fast pace. She did not have to look back to know Father was behind Takashi as they rushed to her parents' rooms.

They went straight into their bedroom. Hikari stopped with Takashi halting behind her. She saw Mother sitting propped up on the bed. Uncle Kurama and Izo stood beside her on the bed while Kaze was content to be cuddling next to Mother. Hikari studied Mother, noticing how thin she looked, and just how tired. She felt two waves of guilt wash over. One for running off and bringing the sickness into the castle, and a second one for bringing Takashi into the room with her. Her mother was in no condition to be made to interfere with whatever Father wanted to have out with Takashi.

"Mother," Hikari whimpered. She let go of Takashi's hand without really thinking about it and rushed over to Mother's side. Uncle Kurama and Izo stepped aside to make room for her.

Mother shifted Kaze to one side and gave Hikari a one armed hug with the other the best she could. Hikari brought her head down to Mother's shoulder, whimpering into it.

"Ssh, ssh, my dear, sh," Mother said to her. "It's alright," she soothed. "We're all alright."

Hikari made herself speak. "I shouldn't have run off. I shouldn't have gotten sick, I shouldn't have- it's all my fault."

"It's not your fault. Just make sure you never run off like that again," Mother started off speaking softly, but then spoke firmly at the end.

Hikari pulled away, nodding her head without looking up at Mother. "I promise," Hikari whispered out.

"You are in trouble for the running off, and only that later on," Mother warned her.

Hikari knew to suspect that, even though she felt the guilt and illness were punishment enough. "Yes, Mother," she responded numbly. She felt like it was a small mercy. She wanted to be punished, understood the necessity of it.

Mother sighed sleepily. "Now," she started, "Kurama had told us something, your father and I when we arrived that... we were not expecting, um..." Hikari felt her pulse race, wondering what Mother was talking about. Mother glanced over at the bedroom door and frowned in puzzlement and annoyance. "Where did Takashi go?"

Hikari felt panic quell up within her. "No," she breathed. She ran from the room, beginning her panicked search for her father and Takashi.


	27. Chapter 27

Hikari dropped his hand as he stood in the threshold of her parents' bedroom. The second Hikari let his hand go, Takashi felt a sharp tug on the sleeve of his shirt tug him back, forcing him to follow the pull.

'Do not make a sound,' a voice threatened him in his mind. It was the voice of Lord Hiei's. He felt frightened at he followed the pull out of the room and into the hallway in compliance. Lord Hiei shoved him out of the room, around the corner, and into the nearest wall. 'Keep silent.'

Takashi opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. He looked down at Lord Hiei beneath him, head band off and an intimidating Jagan Eye glowing on his forehead. Takashi knew exactly what that was and what his lordship was doing. Takashi closed his eyes, trying to tell himself not think about his vision of Hikari but without picturing the vision.

'What vision?' Lord Hiei's voice cut through his mind. 'Show me, or I will force it out of you.'

Takashi shook his head. 'You can't.' A dull ache came over his mind. 'You can't...' The vision rose up to the forefront of his mind. The pain left his mind almost as fast as it came. He sighed, feeling almost hopeless, even as his lordship let him go and stepped back away from him. "Don't tell her," he said in his quietest voice. "Please don't tell her. Don't spoil it for her, too," he begged.

Lord Hiei shook his head, scowling. "No," he denied cruelly. "Never." He turned around, punching the wall behind him with such force that it left a hole in the stone. He did not seemed to even notice the dust and debris that fell down. He did not turn back to face Takashi.

"My lord-" Takashi started.

Lord Hiei turned back to face him. A face full of rage silenced him. Both of them jumped when they heard the sound of scuffled footsteps down the hall. Lord Hiei stood up straighter and then flitted out of sight.

Hikari came running around the corner, acting just as flighty as her father. "Are you alright?" she asked, grabbing Takashi by the hand and looking him over.

"Quite alright," he replied, much surprised at the fact. Her father had been tamed in comparison to the last time he saw him.

"Come back with me, to Mother," she said, tugging him along with her. He much preferred her pulling him along than her father. She was much gentler in meaning than her father.

Takashi allowed her to take him back to her mother. Lady Nanashi looked haggard, but better than the last time he saw her. She was still so pale, with heavy black bags under her eyes. She looked like a skeleton. Her sons and Kurama still around her. Kaze sat on her lap.

She observed Takashi with a silent, steady look. "Takashi," she said his name without emotion. Lady Nanashi passed Kaze over to Izo. "Leave us, please," she said wearily. She stifled a yawn with the back of her hand.

"Mother, surely this can wait," Izo cautioned.

She shook her head, turning a steady gaze on Takashi. "W- I will speak with Takashi now," she looked at Hikari, "and alone."

Kurama and Izo carrying Kaze left the room. Hikari stood her ground, not willing to budge an inch next to him. "Hikari," Lady Nanashi said, her voice warning her to leave, too.

"Mother-" she started, but she was silenced by a look from her mother. "Okay," she consented.

Before she left, she rose up to ball of her feet and kissed him on the cheek.

Once Hikari left the room, Lady Nanashi looked over at him in a way that told him no to speak unless spoken to. She sighed and began, "what are your intentions with our daughter? Hiei is listening in through my mind by the way."

He went over to her, slowly and cautiously lest she command him to stop in his tracks. "My lady," he said soothingly as he knelt down by her bedside. He did not like how low he was in comparison to her on the bed, but he did not want to be higher than her when he told her what he wanted. "Matehood, if it please you my lady."

Lady Nanashi blinked down at him, face conveying mixed emotions; excitement, dread, happiness, pity, relief, uncertainty. "Because of your vision?" she asked.

"He told you," he said, groaning.

"He showed me," she replied. "Before you had your vision, did you want it?"

"I don't know, my lady," he answered truthfully.

"Before she ran off and you saved her?" she asked.

"I..." he started. He did not wish to answer that. "I wouldn't have wanted that then, no." Unsure disappointment colored her face. "But I want that now, most certainly," he added fervently.

"If you had not had the vision while you cared for her, would you want her?" she asked in a longing voice.

He thought over the time when he was helping Hikari recover up to the time he saw the vision. "I can't deny it wasn't there. Developing on its own slowly. For her it is indeed real. Unspoiled, unlike myself by my vision."

She hummed under her breath. "So you have succumbed to the vision?"

"I want it," he admitted. "I considered resisting it and do not want to."

She sighed and shook her head, silent and not looking at him for a few moments. She closed her eyes tiredly. When she reopened them again, she said, "I'm to ask you why you won't fight against it? Why you are stuck in this path when the future is not set in stone? Have your own free will and make your own choices instead?"

Thinking it over, he answered, "I still have free will if I chose the path laid out before me."

"I already asked that," she said quietly, gritting her teeth. "Why don't- ugh... why won't you try to resist it?"

He felt his rueful temper spike at being asked the same question twice and struggled to keep it at bay. "I could if I tried, I'm sure, but I don't want to. I want Hikari, I love Hikari," he rushed out, half realizing what he said before it all tumbled out of his mouth. She looked down at him carefully, lips slightly parted and a worn down look in her eyes. "My lady, forgive me," he said, pulling back his tone and looking down. "You should be resting, not dealing with this. We can discuss this at a later time if you please." He rose up, but did not look up at her, frightened at what look he would read on her exhausted face.

She reached over and took his hand subtly, turning it in hers for some unknown study. "I say yes," she answered slowly. "Mmmm..." she hummed out.

"What is it, my lady?" he asked, knowing she still wished to speak.

"I'm the only one who said yes," she admitted. She was blinking rapidly, clearly upset at the thought. She pulled her hand away.

He felt his heart go out to her. He knelt back down next to her, taking her hand this time. "My lady, just rest, please. Don't worry yourself or get upset about it."

She closed her eyes running her hand through her hair. "Just take it slowly, please," she asked him as she caught his eye. "Don't... rush into anything... don't ask her either," she told him, shaking her head. "Not yet anyway. Until... until we can... mmm... figure something out." She winced slightly. She looked away from him, saying out loud, "can I rest now?"

"I'll leave you rest my lady, I promise. I'm sorry about the added stress on you," he said, standing back up. "Rest well my lady," he bid her, leaving the room.


	28. Chapter 28

Hikari did not quite understand the tension in the castle after Takashi spoke with Mother. Takashi vaguely explained what they spoke about, saying they talked about his intentions with Hikari and him answering with 'honorable intentions.' He did not explain it any further than that, no matter how much she pouted at him.

Father was temperamental and Mother was frigid with him, hardly talking or even staying in his presence. Izo had the gall to ask Mother, not Father, what was wrong. She told him she was mad at Father and to leave it alone.

Hikari still risked sneaking into Takashi's room at night, even after Father told her explicitly not to. Takashi did try to talk her out of coming until the tension in the castle dissipated, but he at least did not turn her away. She was disappointed in that he would let her do less in bed. Not much beyond a few kisses. It was frustrating for her.

Mother's frustration was boiled over before Hikari's own had the chance to. Hikari had been coming back from Takashi's room so early in the morning that she had hardly slept next to him. She missed spending more time with him. She was walking past her parents rooms when she heard the shouting, making her stop in tracks and give into the desire to ease drop.

"You can not be serious!" Mother shouted.

"Keep your voice down, do you want awake everyone else?!" Father growled out.

"No! I will not!" Mother retorted. "You cannot go and say that to them!"

"It's the truth!" Father shouted back.

"It is not! It's just what you want to be the truth!" countered Mother.

"He will stay away from her and be back where he belongs! She'll go with me to so she can get away from him!" planned Father.

"Oh, and what will you tell her about that, hmm? If you tell her what you mean to do, she'll fight you every step of the way," Mother warned. "You'll never get more than 100 meters away from this castle."

Hikari felt her stomach drop at hearing this conversation, but could not resist listening anymore.

"She's seduced and needs away from him," Father argued.

"That's not true!" Mother practically screamed. "You know that's not true. You just don't like it!"

"I could kill him," Father said so softly that Hikari hardly heard him.

Mother's voice went colder, "he's under my protection and has been ever since you first threatened to harm him. You know this world's way. You touch him, and I won't hold back against you." Silence echoed emptily from the room. Hikari waited on bated breath to hear what was said next. "Go to the king. Tell him what's going on. You can't hide the truth from him," Mother added nastily. "But you go alone. Neither of them will go with you."

Hikari could not stomach hearing anymore. She ran off to her room as fast and as quietly as she was able. She ran into her bed and hid under the covers, puzzling over what she heard. Mother and Father were fighting about her and Takashi, no doubt. But why? Father was against them, but Mother defended them. She kept thinking it over and over in her mind where it rolled about like a tumble weed.

Hikari was not sure how or for how long, but she feel asleep again and woke up with a heavy heart and nervous stomach. She kept respective at breakfast, noticing Father was not there. Mother merely said he left for a few days and turned the conversation to school in the Human World resuming in the fall for both her and Izo. Summer was coming nearer and nearer to an end with every pasting day.

Hikari felt her plans developing quickly within her. Father was likely going to the king to try to halt hers and Takashi's relationship, and she would not have that. School was coming back up and could possibly drive a wedge between them as well. Both things were coming to a hedge and she was not about to let either of them spoil what she had with Takashi.

After breakfast, Hikari tried to catch Takashi alone as soon as she could. She convinced him to take a walk with her in the forest at the outskirts of the castle. He insisted they get Mother's permission of course. Hikari could scarcely breathe as she felt Mother's coldness study her. How Father could handle it for days was beyond her. It took so long, but finally Mother agreed they could go under the condition they must not separate from each other. Hikari did find it interesting that Mother did not tell them how long they were allowed to stay out. She did not go asking for it though.

Hikari led Takashi eagerly through the woods, walking fast when he called for her to walk slowly and enjoy the scenery. Hikari called back to him, "if it's scenery you like, you need to see this cave."

She huffed, almost to the lower cave she knew with the hot spring pool. Father had told her before not to go up to the higher caves as they were treacherous and unsafe. This was a lower one though, so she and Takashi would be fine.

She led him into it, almost having to coax him into its darkness with the promise of soon to be lit torches. There were abandoned torches along the wall. She lit each one for them with her fire dragon. He seemed impressed, which was a good sign, but then wanted to talk about how the cave was found and what was at the end. He talked so much sometimes. Now was not a time for talking.

They reached the hot spring pool where she began to feel nervous. Getting him into the pool with her suddenly seemed impossible. She stepped over to him and took both of his hands, pulling him closer to the pool with her.

"Come here," she said shakily.

"Why are you shaking?" he asked.

"Just nervous," she breathed out.

She raised herself up on the balls of her feet and kissed him, catching him off guard. He was letting her take the lead, good. She pulled him down to the ground with her with him trying to slow them down a little. She rolled them so he was laying underneath her. She hesitated, but then brought her legs around his torso around his stomach, preferring to be higher up. She kissed him, feeling better and bolder as she went. He panted beneath her as went after his neck. She bit his neck, trying to get up the courage to bite harder.

"Stop," he sighed out, pushing her head away from his neck with his unique gentleness.

She pouted, but stopped. She reared up over top of him, back straight. Nervously, she reached her hands down to the hem of her shirt and pulled it up and over her head. She threw it down next her before bringing her arms shyly around her chest. She wanted to do this, she knew she did. Time was growing shorter.

"What are you doing?" he asked. She felt him push his upper body up against her.

She glanced down at him, noticing he was looking up at her with bright eyes. He pushed her down his torso as he sat up, with her sliding to sit on his lap. She felt her breath catch in her throat when she felt something hard press against her bottom.

He was still moving though, taking the lead, which she liked. He was getting drawn in to what she wanted him to. She still had her arms around her chest, but his hands came to rest on both sides of her rib cage. He kissed the top of her... breasts... the best he could anyone around her arms.

She trembled more, but she brought her arms down to her sides as she panted. She gasped audibly when she felt him push her forward and guide her gentle to lay on her back. His kisses did not stop there, nor his hands. He kept her bra on, but his mouth and hands roamed around her exposed torso. Her breathing kept catching audibly in her throat every time she inhaled. She could not stop herself if she wanted to.

Takashi did stop himself though. He pulled her upper body away from her, breathing deeply as if to calm himself. "We shouldn't go this far, not yet, anyway," he said disappointingly.

She looked up at him, suddenly feeling colder. "Why not?" she asked grumpily. She raised her upper back off the ground by placing her hands at her side and pushing herself up.

He looked down at her, a soft look of pity. "Someday," he cooed, bringing a hand over to caress the side of her face.

She took his hand firmly in hers, saying darkly, "today." She gripped it tightly, hoping that alone would will to give into her.

"We cannot today," he said almost sadly.

"Why not?" she reiterated. She heated up her hand on his, but not enough to harm him.

He shook his head, "it's too soon. I won't do take you unless I claim you. And I won't claim you on a whim. We have not made the preparations, don't even have a healer close by. I could kill you. Besides that, your father does not approve." He rolled his wrist, twisting his hands out of hers. He added, "not yet anyway."

She looked up at him, scowling. He was so foolish and so hopeful. Her face felt hot and tears pricked her eyes. She punched him on the chest feebly with both fists. "Why not?" she choked out.

He pulled her in close, hugging her to his chest. "I'm not saying no. I'm saying not yet," he soothed.

She whimpered against his chest at the unfairness of it all. She willed herself not to cry. She did not want to look like a child in this moment when she needed to look like a woman. She wanted him and time was running short. "What happens when I go away back to school? I've one more year in the Human World." She asked the easier question first.

"Pray it's a fast year," he told her, kissing the top of her head.

She nuzzled her nose into the crook of his neck. "What if... what if no one but my mother approve? Not even your parents?"

"They will," he said with fake confidence. "So will your father. Given time."

She felt doubtful about her father, but more at ease. "Just once... without making the claim," she requested meekly. She doubted he would even consider it. He had already told her no before.

"No, my sweet, no," he soothed. "Not yet."

She punched his chest once more, but just enough to show her displeasure. "Give me something then. Something to hold you to your promises," she begged.

He gave a short laugh, "are you making a request for a human ring?" he teased.

She brought her head off of his shoulder and looked him dead in the eye. "A bite," she said. He looked ready to tell her no to that, too. "One bite, just one of the three. Neck or, or, or neck, if you please." She brought her head back down to his shoulder, shying away from his answer.

"What if I lose control?" he asked.

She bit her lip, excited to hear him conceding something, at least a little bit. "You won't, I'll... I'll burn you if I get even a hint of it, I swear."

His hand came to her hair, running his fingers through it so delicately. "Oh, my love," he breathed shakily. She felt her pulse quicken at the last word his used. He brought his hand to the right side of of her jaw, pulling her face up to look at him. He looked down not at her face, but at her neck. He brought his mouth down to rest on the left side of her neck, kissing there tenderly. His mouth rested just above her collar bone. She wished he would settle for somewhere higher, but was not about to tell him to do so. "I love you," he breathed against her skin.

Before she could even have a chance to speak, he brought his eye tooth down where his mouth had been. She cried out at the shock and the pain of his tooth piercing her skin. Her cry echoed throughout the cave while he drank from the wound on her neck.

In surprise haste, he twisted his head and neck away from her and pushed her away from him. She crawled back away from nervously. His eyes were closed and he was breathing heavily. His lips moved, but no sound came out. She could not look away from his red stained lips.

She crawled over to him, but stopped suddenly when his eyes opened up. "Stay away," he warned. He was quivering, licking his lips. "Stay back, oh please stay back."

"What is it?" she asked.

He did not answer, but rather rose up to his feet and strode over to the hot spring pool. Only its tiny waterfall trickling into it was the noise in the cave. He knelt down beside the front of it. He scooped up a handful of water and brought it to his mouth. He rinsed out his mouth and spat the water back into the pool. He moved to the left a bit of the pool and splashed water up onto his face.

"Great Mother, I could have you now and not regret it," he called over to from behind his back.

She reached down to the newly made bite on her neck and then brought her fingertips into view. She hardly noticed the redness there. He had hardly bit her, drank only just a little, and now was seduced by it. It would hardly take any effort for her to get him to claim her now.

Yet she knew it was not what he wished, even if she was desperate enough for it. She went over to where her shirt lay and she threw it on over her torso. After that she went over to him and knelt down beside him.

"Let's go back," she bid, taking his hand to guide him up with her.

He turned towards her, kissing her unexpectedly. He pulled away slightly, but then kissed her again, almost forcefully. He pulled away from her, running his hand through her hair anew. "Okay," he said softly.

Both of them stood up and walked out of the cave together. She took his hands in hers As they walked back, she fidgeted with the collar of her shirt, trying to make the bite as obvious as possible.


	29. Chapter 29

Mother did not take long to get to Hikari to talk to her after she and Takashi had returned to the castle. Mother cornered her in the hallway and requested she come with her to the presence chamber.

Mother shut the door quietly and locked it. Next, she stepped over to the Hikari standing in the middle of the room. Hikari felt a flare of apprehension in the pit of her stomach when Mother stepped too closely to her. She closed her eyes and stilled her breathing Mother exposed the newfound bite from Takashi on her neck by pulling away her collar.

Mother grumbled out a sigh and stepped a pace back from her. "He made the claim?" she asked, voice tense and eager in some odd way.

"Um..." Hikari hummed out, voice stuck in her throat.

"Yes or no?" Mother spat impatiently.

"I," Hikari shook her head. "No. Jus-ttt th-the bite," she stuttered out. The hawkish way Mother was staring at her made her as nervous as a small child. She just wanted to tell her whatever was necessary to making her stop staring like that.

Mother closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She brought her hand back down to her side, opened her eyes, and dead panned, "why not?"

Mother's disdain was impossible to place and Hikari had no clue how to answer her properly. She felt her lower lip begin to quiver and her eyes prick. "I asked..." she began. "I asked him, but he said he wanted to wait, he wants to, but he wants to wait. I... for father's approval," she managed to explain. "And his own parents', too."

She looked over at Mother, her face more rueful and looking rather disappointed. Hikari felt the tears welling up hot in her eyes, but she did not want to cry in front of Mother. She blinked rapidly, willing her emotions to stay under her control.

"Hikari," Mother breathed her name soothingly.

Mother stepped towards her, hawkishness dropped from her. Hikari stepped away from her, guarding herself from the impending hug, lest it break her resolve not to cry. Mother stopped in her tracks, looking wounded herself in turn. Hikari kept backing away until she bumped into the desk behind her.

Mother spoke again in a softer, but still serious tone, "you'll not get your father's, you'll have to understand that. He'd sooner run Takashi through than let him claim."

"I know," Hikari answered, not looking up at Mother. "You put him under your protection."

"But yet- wait, how do you know that?" Mother turned her words about her.

"I..." she did not want to explain out of the desire to not be in trouble.

"You heard us fighting, didn't you?" Mother guessed. Hikari nodded, swallowing thickly. She flinched in anticipation of a scolding for that. Mother merely sighed to express her annoyance with that. "You won't get your father's approval, not without a long and arduous fight. But I have no doubt you'll get Minha and Hayate's. Minha has wanted the two of you to be together since you were an infant." Mother hummed tiredly. "You're better off making the claim now before your father gets back. He won't do a thing to Takashi if he's already your mate."

"He won't do it," Hikari murmured. "Takashi, I mean."

"Try once more to convince him," Mother winced out. She shook her head uncomfortably.

Hikari felt her uncomfortable feelings growing in her stomach. This was not something she wanted to discuss anymore.


	30. Chapter 30

It was a hot sunny day when Takashi's parents arrived at the castle with an irritated Lord Hiei in tow. His mother was ecstatic to see him and his father seemed to be beaming. It seemed that his falling for Hikari had erased any of their animosity that led them to exile him months ago. Lord Hiei seemed as livid as he had when left, if not more so.

Hikari was standoffish and skittish around his parents, but it gave her an excuse to stand close to him. He did like that. Thankfully she was wise enough to listen to her mother's advice and keep her bite on her neck covered up in case her father saw it.

Her father flitted away after the pleasantries were exchanged and the conversation turned towards the serious discussion about their possible matehood. He expressed his disapproval once more and left.

That was bit disheartening for Takashi to hear. He wanted Lord Hiei's approval, even though he knew Hikari did not care enough for it to dissuade her. She tried to convince him once more to claim her the day before his parents arrived, but he summoned up all his free will to keep from doing it.

The discussion between the two of them, his parents, and her mother happened even though Takashi hardly saw the point. He pondered over how he could still get Lord Hiei convinced, coming up with no answers. He did not want to claim Hikari without it.

He focused back into the conversation when Hikari grew uncomfortable. "I would have to leave Alaric?" she asked hesitantly.

Takashi's eyes popped up, looking at her next to him at the table. She looked suddenly quite unsure of herself. He turned and looked at his father when he started speaking. "Yes. The prince's place is at the Hayato Territory, where the kingdom is run. As his mate, your place is with him."

Her mother jumped in, "you won't be gone forever. You can visit as often as you want and you will still be the Lady of Alaric." Her mother, who was sitting next to Hikari on the other, put a reassuring hand on her forearm. Hikari pulled her arm away and wrapped it around her middle.

"But I'm to be in charge of Alaric," Hikari countered. "Surely I need to be here."

Takashi watched his father shake his head and lean forward over the table to speak with Hikari. "One day Takashi will be king and you'll need to be with him to help run the Demon World. Alaric, as well as all of the other territories of the world."

Lady Nanashi spoke up, "we can run Alaric in your name. Me, your brothers when Kaze is older."

Hikari turned and looked at her mother. "Father supposed to do that," she said forlornly.

Lady Nanashi pursed her lips at that, not saying anything.

"Give him time, he'll come around," Takashi mother soothed. She struck a more formal tone as she continued to speak. "Now, the claim can happen this evening. If something goes wrong, I can heal you if the need arises. I can be the healer on stand by so to speak."

Hikari looked down, not speaking. Her mother spoke up, "or we can ask Asa to do that, if that makes you feel more comfortable." Hikari still did not say anything, but her arm pressed tighter around her middle. "What do you think?" she asked Hikari tenderly.

Hikari looked ready to bolt. Takashi spoke up, trying mostly to put her at ease. "Let the two of us discuss it privately and decide later." He held his hand out to her in offering. She gingerly took his hand in hers, pulling it into her lap.

His mother sounded a little too eager at that, "yes, please, do so." She rose up from the table, pushing her chair back behind her.

Hikari's grip on his hand tightened. "We'll find somewhere private," Takashi suggested, pulling her up and with him to leave the room. He could tell she was apprehensive based on how close she followed him.

Once they left three of their four parents behind, Takashi slowed, not sure where to take Hikari. She seemed to get her fiery confidence half back as she went from him leading her to her leading him. She lead him to his bedroom and sat herself down on his bed.

As he set himself down next to her, she mused, "would I really have to leave Alaric?"

The sullen face she was making made him want to tell and promise her no, but the truth willed out of him. "As my queen, one day, the whole Demon World will need you, not just one territory."

"One large territory," she reminded him with a hint of pride in her voice and in her eyes. She laid her upper back upon his bed, stretching herself out and humming. She brought her hand to rest on her stomach. "I want to be with you, truly, but I'm just not looking forward to leaving my family is all. I could just name Kaze as my heir, which is expected anyway, but still..."

"You might not have to," he thought out loud.

"What do you mean?" she asked in a tight voice.

"Your father will never go for it, so it..." he shook his head. "I don't know..." He thought about the vision he saw, the vision he desired, irregardless of whether or not the future was set in stone.

"Don't know what?" she said, sitting herself right back up again next to him. There was a fierceness in her eyes he did not dream of wanting to quell.

"Don't know if I should claim you, given your father's stance against me," he admitted. He closed his eyes, seeing the vision, wanting it with a burning, passionate desire.

In rough haste, she grabbed his collar, making him open his eyes, turn, and face her head on. "You make your own decisions. I make my own decisions. No one else gets to make decisions for us," she decided. She took a moment to pause and kiss him. He could almost feel her will moving in this moment. "I love you, and I will be damned to hell if I let one person, be it my father or anyone else, come between us the way you mean to allow." She stood up, facing him. "I'll accept leaving my home for you if you give up your puritan desire for whole parental approval. You saw me mated when you saw my future and it's either you or no one."

He almost broke then, wanting to tell her the whole vision, not just the vague part she was told by him that she was now referring to. Yet he wanted her to go through the future without it being spoiled for her, as well. "I love you, too," he fumbled out.

She went over to him, hesitantly climbing onto his lap. He could feel her tremble as she kissed him firmly. He felt his own arousal perking up. She pushed him down onto his back, with her straddling him. He let her take the lead, even as she started pulling up at the bottom of his shirt. He was nervous, tempted to stop her, but he quelled the desire. He let her pull up his shirt, exposing his torso. She kept pushing it up, making him sit up enough to let her take it off.

Shyly, she rubbed her hands over him. It felt like a small fire was igniting in his chest. He shivered in spite of that heat. "You okay?" she whispered.

"Oh, yes," he breathed out.

"Good," she purred down at him.

He mouth joined her hands, kissing at his chest and making him pant noisily. He wound his hands around her hair. Her mouth dipped down to his lower abdomen, making his feel things he had never felt before. He was scared of how she would react if she noticed how excited he was getting.

He wanted to let her do as she wished, in spite of his nerves and excitement. When her hands slipped down to the front of his pants, he gasped, but did not stay her. Not if she wanted this.

Her hands came to the undo his pants, she asked, "can I?"

He closed his eyes, took his hands from her hair, and nodded. He panted nervously as he felt her unbutton and unzip his pants. He moaned softly as he felt her pull out his cock and expose it. He moaned louder when her lips came around it. He wanted to let her do as she pleased, and it seemed like she wanted to please him.

She took him into her mouth, not very far, but enough to make him quiver beneath her. Her mouth was soft, wet, and warm. It made his heartbeat pound in his ears.

She pulled her mouth away, almost disappointed. They would go as far as she wanted, leaving him to want to go farther than this though. He hoped she would take the lead and go for it.

He opened his eyes and propped himself up on his elbows. He could tell his face was flushed. She gave him a seductive looking, saying demurely, "are you going to claim me now or are we both going to be left disappointed?" She left her words lingering as she pulled her own shirt over her head.

He stared up at her, not at her face, but at her neck, where he had already bit her. He felt a spark light in his chest. He propelled himself forward, grabbing her, and pulled her down onto his lap. She gasped in shock, but pressed herself against him boldly.

Goodness, she was amazing. He wanted her and in the haze of his mind, he could not think of any good reason anymore why not. He pushed her neck to one side, exposing the old bite on her neck to him. He brought his lips to it, nipping it gently. She squirmed and whimpered at that. She clung to him, hands on his upper arms. He lapped her bite with his tongue, liking how excited she was getting.

"Bite," she ordered him desperately.

He hummed against her skin. Her nails dug into his arms. He nuzzled the spot, chuckling under his breath. Before she could order him one more time, he sunk his eye teeth down on the same spot he bit last time. She whined out, trying to hold her cry back. As he sucked at the wound, enjoying the delicious taste of her blood, he thought absentmindedly about how only half planned this was. If he fully claimed her right here, they had not warned their families. Yet his mother was nearby, so they at least had a healer close. And this way, there was less pressure on them if they decide to and implement this here and now, without their parents' knowledge.

He pulled his mouth away, licking his lips like an after thought. She looked up at him, face pink with her own arousal. He looked down at her chest, mostly hidden by her bra. She slipped out of his lap, standing up before him. She closed her eyes and reached behind her back. She unhooked her bra and let it drop to the floor. He reached over to her, pulling her close to him, but keeping her on her feet. He nuzzled the center of her chest, humming against her breasts. He could hear her pulse quicken beneath her breast bone. The pounding made him think of her blood, which in turn made him salivate. He craved more. He brought to his mouth to the inside of her left breast, resting his eye teeth against it.

He bit down on the spot, making her half stifle a gasp. She did not want to scream. Her blood bathed his tongue with its sweet, silvery flavor. He drank slowly, not wanting to take too much from her. He had to keep his wits about him lest he harm her.

He let her go, sighing in pleasure. She stepped away from him, hands going down to her own pants to undo them. He watched her take them off. She hesitated after that, though. He stood up, looming over her. She looked up at him trustingly as he guided her to lay down on her back on the bed. He had no experience with what he was supposed to do next, but he had not been so sheltered that he did not know what should happen next.

He laid down over top of her, feigning fearlessness. He kissed her chastely, thinking she would not like to taste much of her own blood in her mouth. He then went back down to her neck bite, lapping at its sweet stickiness. He hummed at the thought of how delicious it was and how it was now all for him. He slipped his head down to her chest, lapping at the newly made bite there, too. She lay beneath him, eyes closed and panting.

"One more," he said against her skin.

"Do it," she instructed him.

That gave him the dash of courage he needed to sit up and slide his hands down her hot body. His hands came to her panties, sliding them down her legs. He must have been going too slow as she squirmed her way down, to help him hurry up.

"Patience," he teased.

She smiled up at him coyly. He pushed her gently back down on her back. She flopped down, smile still on her face. She bit her lip. He kissed her stomach, feeling shy about going lower. He rested his hands on her hips. Her hand came down and clutched his. He was unsure what to do exactly, but wanted to use his mouth and tongue on her. He licked her down the middle, tasting her wetness. She brought her free hand's fist up to her mouth, stifling a moan. He repeated his action, making her buck her hips.

"Bite," she told him breathlessly.

He brought his mouth down at the right side of her core on the spot near her leg. He used just one eye tooth to pierce into her flesh. She bit her knuckle hard, fighting back a scream. He drank from her, finding it the most delicious of all three bites. He drank only a little from her, not wanting to take too much from her.

He pulled himself away from her, sinking down to the ground on his knees. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand absentmindedly. All he could feel or sense was the desire to bed her, but not the courage to rise up off his knees and do it.

She bent down, looking at him. "Get up here, my love," she told him. "Finish your claim."

He reached his hands up to hers. She yanked him up to stand and then passed her on the bed. After a slight unsure whimper, she straddled him, resting her mound just beside his cock. He groaned at the sight of it. She frowned down at him in full determination. She grabbed his cock with her hand firmly and shoved it inside of her. She cried out in fright and pain while he gasped in shock and awe. She felt so wet, tight, and hot. She moved over him, drawing him in and out of her shallowly, even though it seemed to pain her to do so. He closed eyes, moaning loudly as he felt his own pleasure release inside of her.

She slipped off of him, pulling herself off of him. She laid herself down at her side next to him while he lay still, feeling lightheaded and blissful. He hoped quietly to himself that she would feel the same.

He rolled over to his side to look at her. She looked tired and still pained. Her hand rested on the front of her hip bone. There was blood below her hand and blood on himself as well. Bloodied and bonded.

She rolled herself up onto her hands and knees and slipped off the bed. She winced, hand clutching her front, but stood up only slightly hunched over. He raised himself up to a sitting position, waiting to see what she wanted to do next. She took his hands in hers, pulling him up with her on his feet.

"Can we shower?" she asked in an almost hoarse voice. "The blood is making me a little bit queasy."

"Oh, of course," he said, feeling like he was clumsy and partially neglectful to her for not suggesting it first.

She took him by the hand with one hand while her other hand remained on her front. She lead him into his bathroom and then dropped his hand from hers. She went over to his shower and turned it on, the hot water flowing down in pure heat and steam. She steamed into it gingerly, sighing as the water flowed over her slim body.

He watched her, his mate, probably far too long. She huffed under her breath, reached over to him and pulled her under the water with her.


	31. Chapter 31

The last week and a half went by in a blur for Hikari. Three out of four parents approved her sudden matehood to Takashi, even if Mother seemed annoyed by the two of them doing it without telling anyone. Mother did remind them that she almost died when Father claimed her. Hikari ignored that as much as her conscience allowed her to. Takashi was not as reckless as Father used to be.

Father was livid when he found out, but if he was going to have an attitude like that, then she told herself not to care.

She was dwelling over her parents responses while she was she packing her things. She was moving to the Hayate territory with Takashi tomorrow morning. She did not want to leave, but needed to be by Takashi's side as was appropriate. And needed to move there and get settled in before she went off to school. She wondered if Takashi would have to come with her everyday to the Human World to help ease the separation that would occur between the two of them.

She turned around to put clothing in one of her three suitcases on her bed. She half jumped and dropped the clothes she had in hand when she saw Father standing next to her bed. Her heart stopped for just a second at the sight of him. She scowled at him, toughening herself up with her anger at him. She avoided eye contact with him while she picked up her dropped clothing. She scooped them up in her arms and put them into the suitcase. She knew Mother would tell her to fold them nicely lest they get wrinkled, but she was too moody to care. Besides, she would eventually have to wash them again anyway, so wrinkles were not that big of a deal in the long term.

"A princess would fold them better," Father snarked.

She stared hard at her clothes, willing herself not to look or speak to him. She would talk to him when he accepted Takashi's claim on her, and not before.

Father snapped the suitcase shut with a harsh click, making her pull her hands back and jump away. She steeled herself, refusing to look at him. She wanted to open her suitcase back up, but his hand stayed firmly pressed down on it.

She turned back to her closet pulling a few more clothes she wanted out of it and dumped the pile on the bed. She folded them a little neater for when she put them in her suitcase. She looked at Father's ever present hand, temper raising.

"Get out," she seethed. He did not move. "Get out of my room," she growled. She felt her face flush as her temper spiked.

He still did not move. She turned away from him to leave the room. "Stop," he called over to her softly.

Something in his tone of voice made her turn back to him. "What?" she asked as harshly as she could manage to make herself.

"If he hurts you, I'll kill him," Father said as he looked down at her suitcase.

She gasped, not expecting those words nor that sudden and begrudging acceptance. Her feet seemed to move as if they had a mind of their own. She ran over to him, mindlessly throwing herself into his waiting arms.

Father spoke up, "you could have done better."

Hikari responded in equal tone, "I didn't want to."


	32. Chapter 32

*One year later.

A year had passed since Sister had been mated and moved to the Hayate Territory with her mate. She had tried to convince Father and Mother in vain to name Izo the leader of Alaric, but she was fought back down. Mukuro had not wanted him to inherit, so he could not inherit. Yet Brother was named to inherit should something happen to Sister before she had a child.

It was odd to have Sister out of the castle, but still see her in school. Sometimes Takashi tagged along with her on days she said he could not handle the separation. It was so odd to only see her half the time, like part of his life was voided out.

After graduating from school, Izo felt at a loss as to what to do with his life afterwards. The plan was university in the Human World, to go for engineering at the same university Mother had gotten her engineering degree at part time while the twins were in kindergarten, but it did not seem to fit right with him. Like he was just going through the motion and doing what was expected of him, rather than pursuing what he wanted to do.

He was unsure what he wanted to do, but he wanted to fight, wanted to train. The demon part of him demanded it, but the quietness of human life kept it suppressed. He wanted to feed it and waiting for the next demon king's steward seemed improbable.

Two weeks before he was due to go to university, an unexpected and surprising guest arrived at the Alaric Castle. Izo had been out training with Father when the both of them sensed the lone demon approaching.

When the demon came into view, Father only half relaxed at the sight of him. "Touya," Father whispered the name of the demon in front of him. "What brings you here?"

Ice Master's eyes landed on Izo, making Izo resist the urge to shrink down. Rather he stood up straighter as if being challenged by him. Izo studied the stranger, light blue eyes, light blue hair, teal bangs. He also wore the clothing of a shinobu demon. They were said to once be proud warriors, expert in their fields of combat. Years and years ago, there were hundreds of masters, yet they had dwindled down to a handful when Mother became a spirit detective. Now Izo was staring at the one of the last three. The other two master had been trained by Ice Master. All the other had either left the order, either dying or just quitting. One of them, the former wind master, was the last to quit. When Father talked about that one, he scowled and looked guilty. Mother grew hushed said very few words on the matter.

Yet neither of them had had much to say about this demon before, beyond he was an ice master. Izo felt a raw kinship bubble up between the two of them before either one of them had even spoken to each other.

Ice Master finally spoke, breaking Izo out of his thoughts. "I'm here to speak with you. And your mate. And your son." He nodded over to Izo while speaking with Father. "Especially your son."

Izo felt tension worm its way through his chest, a kind of anticipation that told him something major was about to happen. He was unsure if he should run from it or run to it.

Father led Izo and this Ice Master into the castle to find Mother so the four of them could speak. While Izo did pay attention to the words spoken, he paid most attention to the tension in the room between Mother and Father and this Ice Master. There was a story there, buried years ago.

Ice Master wanted to take Izo on as an apprentice shinobu ninja, much to Izo and his parents surprise. Ice Master was the last of the shinobu, but determined not to let the order be abandoned or die out. He needed a new apprentice to train up. Then train another and another to ensure the shinobu order was strong enough that when he passed away, it would stand firm.

Ice Master had already trained up two apprentices that he turned into masters themselves. One was an ice demon, and the other a wind demon. They were out there in the world on their own know training their own apprentices. So now Ice Master wanted to take on his third apprentice, someone known to be strong from strong stock. He had considered taking on both Sister and Izo since seeing them fight in the Demon King Tournament, more Izo than Sister, but also needed to wait to take on his third apprentice after the last one was finished training.

Now it had been a month since the second apprentice turned master took on his own apprentice, so Ice Master was free to pursue Izo and offer him the role as his new apprentice.

"... even given the history between your parents and the last wind master," Ice Master finished, addressing Izo. Izo frowned at that, another hint at a story he wanted to know. "Would you be interested in taking on the role as my apprentice?"

Izo sat there, sitting up straighter, and intentionally staying silent. He looked directly at Ice Master, but watched Mother and Father out of the corner of his eye. Ice Master stared right back at him, frozen and confident that Izo would say yes. Mother looked uncomfortable and ready to squirm. Father was studying Ice Master and Izo in time with Izo himself.

Izo finally spoke, requesting, "let me consider it and tell you in three days time."

"As you wish," Ice Master agreed patiently.


	33. Chapter 33

The three days passed by rather quickly for Izo. He kept his decision or any hint of his decision to himself, even after Mother sat down and discussed it with him. She told him he could put off university if he wanted to, but she did not prefer it. Father said nothing, but went harder in their training. Izo figured it was because Ice Master was watching them while they trained. Brother was shy about a stranger being in the castle, asking often about who he was and why he was here.

On the third day, in the morning, Ice Master approached him again, asking him once more to be his apprentice.

Izo answered him, "I want to see you fight first." Ice Master was mildly shocked by his answer. "If you truly are a master of ice and leader of the shinobu ninjas now, prove it by letting me watch you fight."

Izo knew his words were bold, border line disrespectful, but Ice Master responded by cracking a smirk. "When and where would you like to fight?" he asked. His chest puffed up in pride.

Izo shook his head, "oh, I don't want to fight you," he told Ice Master. "I want to watch you fight my father."

Ice Master's smooth confidence seemed shaken at that. His eyes got a little wider when he realized what Izo had actually requested. "Fine then," he replied smooth as glass. Izo found that he liked the confidence Ice Master had.

Father was easy to find and convince to do spar with Ice Master, seemed almost excited at the idea. Izo felt like an itch was in his soul at the idea of watching the two of them fight. Mother interest seemed peaked as well at the idea of watching them.

The four of them went outside to the area of the forest Father used to often train Izo and Sister. Izo smiled sadly at the memory of Sister and how his missed seeing her everyday. He missed sparring with her.

Father and Ice Master stood across from each other on the training field. Izo felt a thrill in his chest at the idea of watching this spar. Father would not hold back against Ice Master, which would reveal how strong he was.

Izo watched in antsy anticipation for them to start fighting. Mother, Hotaka, and a few others from the castle stood nearby, watching with him. Mother seemed to never blink as she looked between the two of them.

Mother threw her hand up in the air and down again, announcing, "begin."

Ice Master wasted no time in plummeting the temperature of the air around all of them. Father and Izo remained unaffected, but the rest of people in the area were. The staff members backed away, shivering almost instantaneously. Mother, who was next to Izo, threw her arms around herself, shivering violently. Izo heard her teeth and breath chatter unbelievably loudly. She dropped to her knees, shaking. The temperature grew more frigid still.

Father took his eyes off Ice Master, demanding Izo, "move her."

Izo knelt down next to Mother and picked her frozen form up. Her breath came out in short, frosty bursts. He wanted to watch the fight, but wanted to get Mother away more. She protested, but he still walked with her at a brisk pace.

The cold seemed to follow them. Father was seething. "Pull it back! Away from her. Away from all of them," he demanded to Ice Master.

Izo felt the cold disappear as rapidly as it had appeared. The frost on the ground receded until it was just around Father and Ice Master.

"So you certainly do love her, in spite of what happened," Ice Master stated. "Every demon has a weakness. Some are more unique than others."

After hearing those words, even his use of mercy, Izo made his decision as to whether or not he would go with Ice Master after this fight. He set Mother back down on her feet. She was still shivering, standing quite close to him in the desire for warmth.

Father charged Ice Master, growling in anger. His sword was out. He swung it speedily in an arc towards Ice Master. Ice Master used his right arm to block, forming his own ice sword over it.

The two of engaged in a sword fight, Father most certainly not holding back, as Izo expected. He was using his quick silver speed against Ice Master. Father hacked the ice sword in half just above Ice Master's hand. With the ice sword gone, Father held his sword against Ice Master's neck.

"Dead," Father pronounced. He backed away from Ice Master, sheathing his sword.

Father had won, which was not a complete surprise. Izo stepped away from Mother and over to Ice Master, proffering his hand. "Yes, I will be your apprentice."

He felt a bit guilty when he heard the sound of Mother gasping in surprise.


	34. Chapter 34

Mother did not understand Izo's reasoning, but Father did. Still, neither of them were able to explain to Mother why exactly he was choosing to go with Ice Master. He was strong, in the demon way. Clever enough to deduce an opponent's weakness, while at the same time honorable enough to be merciful. The way a true demon warrior would be.

Another reason Izo had to go with him, which he did not share with anyone, was he wanted to know his parents' history with Ice Master and his former friend, Wind Master. It was often alluded to, but rarely discussed in the household. He figured he could get Ice Master to tell him sooner rather than later.

He left with Ice Master the day after he and Father fought. He packed a rucksack, making sure he included a photograph of his family members. And his favorite sweatshirt included.

After a stoic goodbye to his family and staff, especially Mother, he followed after Ice Master at fast, but steady run in silence. They ran for what felt like hours, with the plan to meet up with the newest master and his apprentice.

When night fell, Izo felt exhausted, but he still helped set up their tent. He made himself eat, even though he was too exhausted to want to. He went to bed as soon as he was able, feeling slightly unsure if he could manage a whole other day of this fast pace.

Ice Master woke him at first light, making him jump awake. Without another word, he got himself up and helped to clean up the tent. He watched Ice Master carefully, trying gauge the best time to ask what he wanted to ask.

Once everything was ready and packed, the time arrived. Ice Master told him to pick up his bag and to go.

"No," Izo refused, standing next to his bag.

"Worn down already," Ice Master asked shortly. "If you can't keep up after one day-"

"It's not that," Izo responded, even though the back of his quads did feel tight. "I want to know something first." He spoke clearly and confidently, with a hint of demanding. He figured that would shake Ice Master up.

"What is it then?" Ice Master asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He was outright annoyed. "Missing your mommy already?"

"No, but I want to know what happened with her and my father, and your former friend and ally, Jin," Izo demanded. Ice Master's eyes went wide at that response. "Once I know, or don't know, then I'll decide which direction I run."

Ice Master looked frigid at Izo's boldness. "Ask your parents what happened next time you see them," he seethed out.

Izo did not move, standing stock still. "The only times they talked about it was skirting conversations."

"Pick up your bag," Ice Master barked. "We've got miles to cover today to meet up with Master Haru and Apprentice Airi."

"Yes, master," Izo said, but in a tone that said he had yet to given up on seeking the answer.

It took three days of running before Izo could any response out of Ice Master. It also took the use of being unwilling to engage in conversation with Ice Master to weaken his resolve.

They had set up a fire and were eating dinner when Ice Master finally cracked. "Why do you want to know about your parents and Jin so much?"

Izo looked up at him and took a bite of food. He delayed swallowing. Then said, "just because."

"You're not as smart as you think," Ice Master told him. "If you're going to make it as a shinobu, you need to cut that attitude." Izo masked his reaction by wearing a blank face. "Fine," Ice Master said, setting down his plate next to him on the ground.

"First, you should know I bare no ill will towards your mother. Back then, she was a young, naive human. Strong, too. Jin met her at the Dark Tournament we competed in."

Izo kept his face neutral, but felt a quelling in his stomach. Mother had said that the training for the Dark Tournament was when she developed feelings for Father and when she first kissed him and later on when he first kissed her...

"When Jin found out your mother was the other wind mage at the tournament, he saw her and fell in love with her."

Izo gasped slightly, unable to control the reaction. But that was when Mother and Father got together, so why would she spurn someone who was in love with her...?

"Jin pursued her, but..." Ice Master took a deep breath, brow puzzled with how word what he wanted to say. "But your father wanted her, so he intervened between them. Twice. The first time, your father threatened Jin. The second time, he threatened to harm your mother if he did not leave her alone."

Izo made an effort to stay neutral in face, despite his shock at the bluntness at which the explanation was delivered. "Why didn't Jin tell Mother he was in love with her...?"

Ice Master shook his head, looking frustrated. "He did eventually, but a little too late. He wanted to sleep with her first, but even after that, he did not have the courage to say it- I'm sorry, I shouldn't have included that."

Izo knew his eyes were wide and his mouth was parted. It felt like his heart was pounding in his ears all while feeling like it jumped into his throat. "Why didn't Jin tell her?" he choked out, thinking how odd it would be if Mother had been mated to this Jin instead of Father, which would have made him part wind demon instead of part ice/fire/wind/who knew what else.

Ice Master fidgeted, "he did. At the first Demon King Tournament. But he was angry with her, so he did so while yelling at her, which he thinks is why she went to your father instead of him."

Izo did recall Mother telling him Father claimed her at that tournament after she asked him. "Why did she chose Father...?" he thought out loud.

Ice Master shook his head. "I don't know," he said in a soft voice. "I personally don't think she made the right choice, based on how crushed Jin was when he found out. Besides, rumor has it, your father didn't love her right away until you and your sister were born."

Izo felt himself feel like he was collapsing inward in this revelation.

Ice Master seemed to pick up on how Izo was feeling, and told him, "look, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but you wanted to know and asked. Don't sweat it. Clearly the years have changed the two of them. Your father was willing to throw a fight to stop her from harm."

Izo grew quiet after that, and stayed quiet until it was time to sleep. The next morning, he was still taciturn with Ice Master, unsure if he wanted to be with him anymore. Wanted to train with him anymore. Yet he did not wish to go back home after the revelation he had. His parents' whole relationship was based on betrayal mainly on Father's part.

His mind thought unbidden about what Ice Master told him. About the father he could have had had his real father not been so cruel.

Running got harder and harder each day after that. His legs and arms ached, feeling tenser each time he thought about... it. He still did his best, even as Ice Master shouted for him to keep up.

One night in his sleep, Father came into his sleeping mind. 'Still alive?' he asked in a jovial voice. 'Your mother misses you, you know.' Izo just stared at him across the void space between them in his mind. 'What's wrong?' he asked, frowning.

Izo felt the temptation to just wake himself without a word. He could not make himself do it though. 'I know,' was all he choked out.

'Know what?' Father asked, stepping closer towards him in the void space between them.

Izo tensed up, stepping back out of the desire for Father not to come any closer. Father stopped. 'I know what you did to the wind master,' he admitted.

Father clicked his teeth, irked, but trying to keep himself in check at this response. 'That was not Touya's place to share that information,' Father stated.

'Why?' Izo asked. 'Why did you do it?'

Father kept his face neutral. 'I desired your mother,' he explained. 'I know she would have been happier with him,' his tone was somber and sober.

Izo shook his head, staring across at someone he emulated as a hero, but now it turned out he was a villain in his own right. It was hard to comprehend, hard to think about. The father he had loved was no better than the rouge bandit he had been back when he was a child and teen himself.

'What do you want me to say?' Father said, shortness was in his voice, even though he tried to keep it at bay. 'You ask your mother, know that she says she made a choice, and she chose me.' Father's voice grew softer. 'She shouldn't have and yet she did. I seduced her away from him. I let her fall in love with me, even though that wasn't my plan. It took time, but I eventually also fell in love with her, and yet I don't want to regret the decisions and the path that got me there.' Father was breathing quicker, looking down at what would be the ground in this void space. 'I can't imagine life without her. Nor the three of you.'

Izo shook his head. Hearing what Father had to say did not negate what Ice Master said, but rounded out the explanation. 'I'd like to wake up now,' he said.

'Okay,' Father said, tone sketched with defeat. 'We'll speak again next week. Your mother wants me to try to bring her along into your mind with me next time.' Father stood up straighter. 'Keep training. Focus on that. Not the past that you had no part of.'

With that, Izo jumped awake shock. He rolled over, looking at Ice Master, who was deep asleep. Izo sat up,running his fingers through his long, tangled blue hair. He looked back down at Ice Master. While his revelation of what his father did years ago shook him to the core, he had made a commitment to the shinobu order. The same order as that wind mage Father stole Mother away from. He made a commitment, even though it now felt tainted, and he was going to carry it through; hell or high water.


	35. Chapter 35

Ice Master kept to himself, but was livid in his silent way. Izo and him had arrived at the meet up point in the rugged ice mountains ten days ago, and yet Master Haru and Apprentice Airi had yet to arrive. Ice Master had assumed they would have been the late ones because Izo was slow going on the running. They had arrived three days later than they were supposed to, which meant that Haru and Airi were two weeks late.

"Where are they?" Ice Master said under his frosty breath.

The mountains were frigid and snow covered, but beyond visible breath, it harmed neither of them not. Izo actually thought it enjoyable to be in weather so cold. It seemed to seep into his blood and make him flourish.

"I don't know, master," Izo said, answering even though he did not need to. "Perhaps Airi struggles to run long distance as well?"

"Airi? No," Izo shook his head. "Ocean demons like her are hardy, be they slim and laithe. She is a tiny thing, but she'll drown any demon who dismissing her. The cold might be hard on her though... Haru is slower than she is. Almost as slow as you. He's a bulky beast of an ice demon." Ice Master gritted his teeth. "You'll like them when you meet them."

That ended the conversation for hours, but Ice Master's temper needed burning off. Izo learned early on he enjoyed burning it off with training. Izo had thought himself strong, but he could hardly be compared to Ice Master. He had a long way to go to be as strong as him. It was akin to climbing one of the mountains that surrounded them. It did not hurt him to keep trying.

Izo could hardly stand by the time it was over at Ice Master's call. He was busy healing himself from his seat on the ground when Ice Master knelt down beside him.

"Where did you learn your healing ability?" he asked point blank.

Izo parsed his words, not sure if Father would want Ice Master to know the answer. "From my father's ancestors."

Ice Master frowned in thought. "The wind demon warriors?"

"Could be," Izo replied. "The queen is a talented healer. She is the one who healed my father's hand back upon his wrist."

Ice Master shuddered, but not from cold. "That was a nasty wound. He better count her a saint for doing that for him."

Izo kept his face neutral, but he desired to smile at the thought. Ice Master had never met the queen, otherwise he may think less of her. "Indeed."

"You healed his crippled back though," Ice Master said allowed. "Along with your mother's friend, Yukina."

Izo kept his mouth closed tight for fear of giving away anything he should not. "Yukina trained me," he said, dodging the word 'aunt.' "Along with another healer named Asa."

"Did you inherit anything else from your father?" Ice Master asked. "Telepathy perhaps?"

Izo shook his head. "My father didn't inherit that ability, nor was he born with it. He had his Jagan Eye implanted. It comes from that." The thought of Father made him slightly melancholy. He and Ice Master had traveled too far away from Sister's castle for Father to communicate with him. He missed it in his dreams.

Ice Master sighed. "What about tracking? Did he teach you tracking? I've heard he has a talent for that. That he can track someone just by their energy markers or whatever it is. I've heard him likened to a blood hound with it before."

Izo shook his head. "I don't know it. I don't know how to sense any markers or the like. Father tried to teach us, my sister and I, but it was a talent that could not be taught." Izo let himself have a soft chuckle at that thought. Father had been frustrated with them, but Mother had soothed him, convincing him that they did not need to know how to do everything to be capable fighters.

"Does that ability come from his Jagan Eye, too?" Ice Master asked.

Izo thought it over. "No," he shook his head. "Father once said he could do it before he got that. That's why he thought we could learn it, too." He smiled, shaking his head. "Nope."

"What about from your mother and her wind dragon?" Ice Master asked in turn. "She can fly with it. You can fly as well. I saw you in the tournament do it. Tomorrow morning, can you fly us over head and scout about for Haru and Airi?" His voice was gravitas with his request.

Izo nodded, "I can." He thought about it. "With you though, I wouldn't be able to fly as far or as fast with my ice dragon."

Ice Master stood up, shuffling the snow by his feet. He looked up at the setting sun. "I wish I had thought of this sooner. But it's too late now in the day for you to scout. Early in the morning, I want you up in the sky, looking all around for them. They might have gotten caught up in a snowstorm or avalanche while traversing a mountain pass."

Izo nodded in agreement.

The next morning came in a rush of a good sleep. The clouds were high up in the sky like giant puff balls, and the sun was bright enough close to the ground. It took Ice Master some convincing to let him take a bag of food and water with him so he would not have to land back at their camp to search.

Izo summoned up his ice dragon, mounting it anew. Ice Master once more explained to him what both Haru and Airi looked like, to ensure Izo would know them when he spotted them.

Izo flew up in a rush to the sky, circling around and around throughout it, trying to spy signs of anyone, anywhere. The air's chill could have killed a full blooded human, but for him, it was thrilling. He felt alive in it. He flew higher up for the joy of it, even though he could not see as well up there.

He sailed the sky for hours, so far away now he could no longer see Ice Master from this distance. The clouds that surrounded him where white as pure snow, but there was a large, immense gray one floating high in the sky above him. A cloud that gray, almost black, harolded an impending snowstorm, but it was impossible high up for a storm cloud. Izo looked up at the cloud, feeling the temptation to fly up higher to inspect it more carefully. It seemed to call to him like he was a homesick angel, yet he remembered his duty. He kept his eyes as trained as he could upon the ground, searching out the lost shinobu master and apprentice as Ice Master had charged him to.

He was not looking up, but rather down when a figure clad in light teal and lavender sailed passed him in the sky. Izo gasped at the sight of the figure plummeting toward the ground at such speed. They did not shout or scream or cry out, but fell head first from what seemed like the heavens.

After a second's worth of shock, Izo spurned his ice dragon down, chasing the figure down, racing to reach them before the ground did. His ears popped painfully at how far and fast he fell. His eyes watered at the assault of the wind as he flew. He could hardly see the figure beyond a blur when he got there, but his ice dragon could. His dragon snatched the figure up in his jaws hard enough to hold, but not hard enough to harm. Once it had the figure, it stopped the nose dive abruptly, turning to fly parallel to the ground instead. It slowed them to a halt, hovering in the warmer air.

Izo rubbed and blinked his eyes in tandem to popping his ears to get them used to the new air pressure around them. He winced at the pain of it.

'Take us down,' he told his ice dragon. 'Back to Master Touya, please. He'll know what to do.' Izo himself had no idea what to do next. He hoped Ice Master would have an inkling about what to do with a pseudo angel that fell from the sky. Izo could hardly see the figure from his spot on his dragon's back, but he could wait until they were upon the ground.

'As you wish,' ice dragon replied frankly.

They began a slow glide down towards the ground. That was when Izo heard static crackling behind him. He turned to see behind them a large, net with red sparks coming towards them at an alarming speed.

"Dive!" Izo shouted in panic, feeling no desire to be capture by that net.

The dive was all in vain after five seconds when the net encased them. His ice dragon roared in pain, as the red sparks danced around him. Izo summoned it away beneath his shoulders as he could handle the heat that came off the net as it wrapped around him and the figure, bringing them against his front. The figure's tangled and dirty teal hair got into his face. He turned his head away, noticing like an afterthought that it was the exact same color of his. The figure's back was too him, but they shook and panted breathily, be it from pain or something else.

He looked up, seeing them be pulled at an alarming speed towards the looming dark gray cloud. Whatever the figure had jumped for, Izo did not think he wanted to know. He patted his left hand down to the knife sheathed at his hip. He tugged it out, twisting his wrist to get it out. He cut at the net, trying to free them from it. Once free, they could fall beyond its reach and fly away.

"Help me," he ordered the figure, hoping they would pull at the net in time with his cutting to get them out before they reached the gray cloud above.

The figure turned their head towards his voice, face invisible by a wall of hair. The figure's hand shot down to the hole he had made, clumsily pulling at the ropes. Izo did not have to look up to notice the sky was growing darker above them.

They got the hole big enough, so he shoved the figure towards it while clinging to their wrist, that way he would fall along with them. They fell through the hole they made, but did not fall as someone grabbed him by his shirt collar and hauled them up over the grey cloud's snowy precipice.

Izo was yanked back away from the figure and shoved down to the ground. The figure made no sound, but reached for him while two other figures held them, no her, back.

He got a look at the figure. She had a tattered lavender and sky blue kimono on. Her teal hair was tangled. She was unhealthily bony, expect for her stomach was round and large. Her face was pale and dirty. Her mouth moved in haste, but only breathy sound echoed out.

The two figures who held her were women who were much more well kept. Their teal hair was clean and their faces hardened, but pristine. They wore similar kimonos, but it pale green and pale blue, almost white.

Izo rose up, planning to charge the women and get the figure free and to jump with her once more. Whoever the two other women were, they were not their friends.

He felt a harsh blow slam into the back of his head. His vision flash black as he was knocked down to his knees. He shoved his hands up to the air, shouting, "I yield, I yield!" to the unseen assailant. His voice sounded airy and deep to his own ringing ears.

"A man. He deserves death, lest he tells others of his vile kind how to find us. Throw him back into the sky to die," the woman on the left said.

A hand came to his braid, yanking his head back as an ice cold blade came to rest next to his throat. "Are you mad?!" the woman's voice next to his ear sounded. Her voice was full of contempt. "He rescued her from her jump with that beast he was riding. We throw him, and he will survive to fly off."

"Knock him out first, so then he can't summon his beast," the woman on the right suggested, even as the figure in the middle still fought feebly to get away from the two women holding her by the arms. She shook her head and mouthed 'no,' over and over again.

The woman on the left looked down at the figure and then over to Izo. "What are you to her?" she asked suspiciously. "Why were you in the sky where she jumped? When she jumped?"

Izo's eyes locked on the figure's. She was terrified of these three women. 'Please,' she might have mouthed. He had no practice with lip reading.

The hand around his braid gave his hair a painful yank. "Answer her question," the harsh voice demanded.

The figure turned her head towards the woman on the right. Her lips moved over three words, but Izo could not make them out with her head turned.

The woman on the right gasped in shock. She turned to face Izo and the woman next to him. "Kotone says he's the father."

"What?" the woman next to Izo exclaimed. "So you're the monster that dared come to our island." He was shoved backwards down onto his back. The woman stood over him, seeing that she was older, but even more vicious than the other women holding the figure. "And to force yourself upon one of us." The dagger in her hand looked ready to come down and stab and him in the chest. "She failed to fight you off, so now you dare to return."

Izo shook his head, inching back away from the older woman looming over him. "I swear I didn't-"

"Liar!" the older woman screamed down at him in a frenzy. "All men are vile, monstrous creatures. We left you lot to the world centuries ago, and yet you had the audacity to come here and then come back!" She stepped over to him, and stomped down on him between his legs. He cried out, eyes watering in response to the pain. "You came back, so you can stay. And when your son is born, you can die with Kotone and him together."

Izo shook his head, trying to grasp what was happening. He rose up, going to defend himself. The older woman knelt down in front of him, striking her hand across the side of his neck.

He half felt himself sink down to the ground beneath him, vision tunneling into black. He could have sworn he heard someone loose an airy scream.


	36. Chapter 36

It had been over a month since her boy was too distant to reach mentally. At Nishi's behest, Hiei tried to reach him each and every night. She seemed to grow sadder each time he told her he could not be reached. It was different with his girl, she lived close enough at the clan's territory that she could be reached by letter, phone, mental, etc.

It was to their shock that the ice master showed up at his girl's castle, with the news that her boy had disappeared and that he wanted to see if he had just run off and returned home. He had two other demons with him, a large, male, ice demon and a pint sized ocean demon. Each of them looked worn out. They met him in the entryway, with him to irritated to meet anywhere else.

"Gods be good, please tell me your son is here," the ice master exasperated.

"What are you talking about?" Nishi asked. "He was with you. He has been, training with you." She seemed suddenly nervous and withdrawn into herself.

"Izo disappeared over two weeks ago when scouting for Haru and Airi in the ice mountains," the ice master tersely replied.

Hiei felt a chill shiver down his spine. "The Northern Ice Mountains?" he asked, nervous about the answer.

"The northern ones, yes," the ice master replied. "We went up there to train and meet up with Haru and Airi. They were late, trapped by a blocked path caused by an avalanche. I sent Izo to scout for him by flying his ice dragon, and he disappeared." The ice master snapped his fingers. "He did seem to have changed him mind early on about being my apprentice, so it wouldn't surprise me that he ran back home."

"My son wouldn't do that," Nishi said confidently. "Did you search for him?" Her voice cracked with worry.

"We combed the mountains for three days, finding nothing to hint at his location. We came straight here to see if he had come back here.," the ice master replied.

"Only three days?" Nishi's voice was tense, but dark with disappointment. "Did you search every peak? Did you sense for him? Did you-"

The ice master interrupted her, "we did as much as we could. We did not see him. And Airi could hardly handle much more of the cold, else wise we have searched longer, I swear it."

Nishi stood up straighter, closing the distance between the ice master so she stood right in front of him. She was shorter than him, but not afraid of him. "Izo would never do that," she said in a quietly, but commanding voice. "You lost him. You find him." She looked back at Hiei for a brief glance. "You help us find him. And we don't stop looking until we find him."

The ice master looked back down at her, the look she was giving him dared him to say no. "You swear he's not here? Or with his sister? Or hiding somewhere in the Human World?"

"I swear it on my life," she growled. "When do we leave?" she asked in all confidence.

Hiei hated to shatter it. "You can't go, Nishi," he stated. Her eyes went wide at what he said. She turned around, looking hurt at his words. "It's get as cold as -90 degrees Celsius or lower in the Northern Ice Mountains. You'd never survive the cold."

"It is very cold, ma'am," a lilting, female voice came from behind the ice master. The ocean demoness was speaking. "I could barely handle it as a demon myself."

Nishi looked downcast, stepping away from the ice master and over to Hiei. "The Northern Ice Mountains..." she mumbled. Her eyes flashed in sudden recognition. She knew what was up there. "Promise me you'll find him."

"I promise," he swore.

"Promise me you won't stop looking until you find him," she demanded.

"I promise," he swore.

"No matter what, you bring him back here." She blinked. "You will bring him back to me."

"I promise," he swore.

She turned back to the ice master. "You left him... you just assumed... you left him," her voice had that ice cold, deadly tone that Hiei hated to hear used on him. "If you don't help my mate find him, I will make sure the shinobu line dies within the year. Even if I have to hunt all you down myself." Her eyes flicked over at the tiny ocean demoness standing behind the ice master. "She can't handle the cold as well as you three can. She stays here as my hostage until Izo is found, one way or another."

The ocean demoness looked suddenly frightened while the big ice demon looked protective. "No," he spoke. "My apprentice stays with me."

"I won't lose her," Nishi promised with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

The ice master, who looked caught in the wrong, turned back to this big ice demon, hand raised in the air. "She'll be safe here."

The big ice demon looked over to Nishi. "Put her under your protection," he blustered.

Nishi shook her head. "Find my son that you all abandoned in the mountains."

The ice master and the big ice demon seemed to give into her demands, even with how uncomfortable the whole situation blossomed into.

"You have an hour to get ready and go," Nishi demanded. "I want my son returned to me."

No one in the area dared to argue with her.


	37. Chapter 37

The days in the ice cell with Kotone seemed to blur together. Izo had tried to count the days, but he found himself to weary to do so. The wards on the door drained their energy. The more energy they each exerted, the wards drained them of equally the same amount of energy. Everything they did took twice as much energy. That, and the little food they received once a day made even trying to communicate exhausting.

The ice maidens locked them up in a cell together since Kotone claimed he was the father of her child. It was a punishment for him for raping her and a punishment for her for not fending him off.

Izo recalled when he had first been woken up after being knocked out. He had been bound to a chair with fire wards and draining wards around him. Being half human, they did not work as well on him as they would a full blooded demon, but he was not about to give that away. The ice dragon could not handle the fire wards though, which was precarious for it and him. He could not use it without risking its destruction.

The leader, the elder of the ice maidens, the eldest one, had stood before him. Other ice maidens surrounded him. The elder had asked him endless questions, but he refused to answer or even look at her. He trusted silence, he wanted to be silent since he did not know what had happened to Kotone beyond what he learned from the five minutes he knew her. He did not want to risk giving away the lie she told about him, lest she be punished for it. Even that he was still unsure what to think of it. She had saved his life with her lie, but doomed him to possibly die with her if they did not escape or were not rescued.

"Speak!" the elder shouted in his face. "You have a tongue. Kotone lost her for refusing to tell us what happened." Izo skipped over the desire to breathe a sigh of relief at that thought. No story to mess up. "Or shall we remove yours as well?"

He still refused to speak, even after she ordered a warrior ice maiden to hit him until he spoke. The warrior hit him, and hard; without mercy. He took that in silence as well. He resolved not to crack.

When that did not work, the elder ordered for Kotone to be brought to them to see if she could get him to speak.

"No," Izo hoarsed out, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach. He winced as speaking hurt his face. She was pregnant and likely had suffered enough from this.

"So the beast speaks," the elder said. "Tell us. Who are you?"

He shook his head. "No one."

The elder had reached the end of her patience. "Go get Kotone," she said with a snap of her fingers.

"No," Izo said again, voice weak. His ice dragon wanted to come up and fight, but the fire ward around his neck prevented it.

One of the ice maiden did the elder's bidding anyway. He did not want her dragged into this. When he saw her dragged into the room, his heart broke. She was thrown roughly between him and the elder. Her hands came protectively down around her middle. He looked down at her tangled hair. He could have sworn he saw lice or fleas combing about it. He felt a burning rage alight in him. He strained to get his hands free so he could get the fire ward off his neck.

"Hit her," the elder ordered.

The warrior brought her fist down upon Kotone's shoulder. Kotone whimpered, hands staying fast around her middle.

"Stop it," Izo ordered, cold fury in his voice. A perverse desire rose up in him. He would kill them all. Wanted to kill them all. Kotone looked up at him, a silent and disparate plea to help her. He did not want her hurt anymore than she already had been.

"Will you answer now?" the elder asked him.

"Yes," Izo resigned, trying to think up what lies would both protect him and her at the same time.

"Every time you refuse to speak, she will be struck," the elder informed him sternly. "Who are you."

He sighed, ready to speak. "Izo... a half demon, half human."

Murmurs of 'human' echoed in the room from the other ice maidens.

"You lie," the elder said, spitting in his face a little. "A human could never survive the cold here or in the mountains below."

"I'm half ice demon," he spoke clearly, fighting to keep his face stoic. 'And fire, and wind, and who knows what else,' he thought to his ice dragon.

'Get the ward off your neck, and I can show her,' the ice dragon stirred. It wanted to do some killing now, too.

The elder gave a sharp inhale. "Impossible." Izo shook his head, not speaking. "What demon would deem to lay with a human to create a beast?"

'My father,' Izo thought. He kept his head downcast, not looking at the elder nor Kotone. "My mother."

The elder hissed under her breath. "Who is your mother?"

The thought of Mother made his eyes prick. 'Nanashi Urameshi.' He answered, "Yukina."

More murmurs. These ice maiden either knew her or knew of her. He caught one murmur about how his eyes did look familiar. That made him want to smile. Father and Aunt Yukina had the same eyes, which backed up his lie.

"Impossible!" the elder shouted. To the warrior, she said, "He lies. Hit her."

The warrior seemed to hesitate for a second before slapping the back of Kotone's head.

"I'm not lying!" Izo growled up at the elder, daring to look her in the eye without blinking. She was studying his eyes. "Yukina was born here. An elder like you had her twin brother thrown from island to his death after he was born. When she found out about him and the possibility that he could have survived, she left. Left you behind. Left all of you behind." He paused to look around at all of them. He turned back to look at the elder. "She saw how heartless you all were, so she left. She met my father," 'uncle,' "fell in love, and was both married and mated."

"She wouldn't have dared," the elder hissed.

Izo took a deep breath and spoke loudly, "my father is the human psychic Kazuma Kuwabara." He looked the elder in the eyes, refusing to blink. Internally, he willed her to believe him.

The elder looked suddenly confident. "I know you're lying."

He blinked first, unwillingly. "My grandmother was Hina," he said truthfully. "I don't know what my uncle's name was. Nor who my grandfather was."

More murmurs. The elder looked irritated. "An ice maiden cannot have a child with a man without birthing a fire demon for a son," she said smugly.

Izo sat up straighter. "Mother is not a pure ice maiden. Who knows how much of her father is in her?" He smirked the way his father did. Right at her, all nice and cocky. "Who else would give me these eyes?"

The elder said nothing, but stepped over to Kotone. She raised her face up and slapped her hard.

"Stop it!" Izo roared at her. The elder struck her again, temper dissipating. "No wonder my mother left you all. If that's how you treat your kin."

The elder shoved Kotone away from her. "You're the one who ruined her life. She will die for what you did to her. So will her child. And so will you."

'Not if we escape first,' he thought to himself. He looked down at Kotone, silently promising, 'I will save you. And your child.' Kotone looked back up at him. He felt as if she knew what he promised.

The elder noticed their moment. "Why did you rape her?"

Izo looked away from Kotone, not wanting to answer that. 'I didn't.' "Because she's kin. And seemed strong. She was strong enough to escape me, even after I try to take her with me. I came back to try to take her with me once more." He had already thought up that basic lie while being questioned. If owning that crime kept him alive, even with a death sentence on the rise, then he was going to say it.

It was after that false confession that the elder ordered they were to share an ice cell. Only two meals were brought a day for the countless days that passed. That was the only time they ever had contact with anyone else. Izo lost count after a week or so. The meals were small, barely suitable for one person. The elder meant for them to starve them to near death until the child was born. If did not escape soon, they would not have the energy to with the lack of food and the draining wards.

Izo hated when the food arrived because of how tempting it was. Each time he would insist she consume it all since she was pregnant. Sometimes she would insist back that he have a few bites.

He was growing weaker, both from hunger and the wards. His ice dragon could not handle exposure to the wards. Izo had still combed over the door, the walls, and the floor, but he could not find a way out for them. He tried to rip down the wards, but the pain and weariness hurt him so bad, he had passed out from the attempts.

He asked Kotone how she had escaped, but only got signed what he assumed meant the person who had brought her a meal once forgot to lock the door. He figured they would not be that lucky again. The impending feeling of hopelessness grew heavier and heavier.

With Kotone, he had come up with a rudimentary sign language to try to communicate with her. Sometimes he would just talk to her in a whisper, lest they were being monitored and overheard. He try to learn more about her, but felt so worn out that he hardly made the effort to comprehend what she was signing.

He was laying down on the frigid ground half way between the two meals, noticing the cold was starting to get to him. He was beginning not to enjoy being in it anymore. He fell into a fitful sleep, too tired to fight against it.

'Oh, finally!' a voice echoed in his head in the dream world void. 'Do you realize how long we've been looking for you?'

He look over between the void to see Father, his real father standing over him, arms crossed and Jagan Eye exposed. 'Father!' he thought, almost waking himself up in relief. He took a steady breath as the events of what had happened to him since he went searching for Haru and Airi wash over him. Father was reading his mind over, trying to figure out what had happened.

Father said nothing, but his face took a hellish look. 'I'll get you out of there as soon as I can.' Father promised.

'Both of us,' Izo required.

Father snarled. 'She's the reason you're imprisoned.'

'They would have killed me outright had she not lied. I owe her my life,' he responded. 'Besides, I promised her.'

'Hn,' Father sighed. 'Be ready to go in the middle of the night.'

'Tonight?' Izo said in surprise.

'We could wait a few days, if you would prefer that?' Father joked.

'Get us out of here, please,' Izo begged.

'A few more hours. Hang in there,' Father promised.


	38. Chapter 38

The sun was setting when they reached the closest mountain peak to the ice maidens' floating island. Hiei had been here before, making it easier to find it again. The ice master and the big demon were with him. They had left the ocean demon back with Nishi. The big demon still grumbled about that since he cared about his apprentice, but Nishi refused to put her under her protection. If the big demon had not been so integral in the plan to rescue her boy, then Hiei would not have put up with his moaning at all.

They went over the plan one more time. The big demon would summon up an ice bridge up to the island. They would go up it, rescue her boy and the mute, and slide back down the bridge. Hiei would stay back with the big demon while the ice master went to rescue her boy and the mute imprisoned with him. Hiei would enter the minds of all the other ice maidens on the island and keep them asleep so they could not prevent the escape. If either of the three of them messed up...

Hiei went over the plan with them one more time, eyeing the big demon hard. If anyone messed up the plan, it was going to be him. Claimed he could conjure anything from the ice and make any structure with ease. When he demonstrated though by building a house out of ice, he was panting with the effort. To get them up to the island, he would have to build something even longer and maintain it until they had escaped.

When the sun sank down, the big demon and ice master rested, but Hiei found he could not sleep, even though they would need it. He wanted to get this over with. Get her boy and that mute and get out. He had the unfounded fear that the mute would go into an early labor, thus ruining their whole plan. Or that the big demon would fail and they would never reach the island. Or both.

At midnight, the ice master and the big demon awoke. The big demon had Hiei and the ice master stand back, far enough away since he was going to need to use the snow and ice on the mountain top to form the bridge he would make.

The big demon started by shouting and chanting in a language unfamiliar to Hiei. He watched as a narrow and steep bridge began to grow from the snow and ice that surrounded them. It all packed together and shot up into the sky. It looked like a precarious bridge, but a bridge nonetheless. Hopefully he had stopped it just short of the island in case making contact with the island would send out an alert.

The big demon panted, saying, "there... it's completed. It should hold, unless there's an earthquake or something."

"Hn," was all Hiei had to say from that as he ran up the slick and steep bridge.

His mind felt numb once he reached the end of the bridge. The big demon had enough sense to give them a long platform to leap to and from at the end. Removing his headband, he sought out first every awake mind on the island, except for two, sending them to sleep where they were. Some resisted him, but he managed to get them all asleep after a minute. Two tried to send out an alert, but failed. Then he went into the minds of everyone who was asleep and kept them that way.

Once done with those minds, he backed up a few paces. Next, he ran and jumped over the void that separated the bridge from the island. He stood stock still once he landed, looking and listening for any signs of an alert. He noticed nothing, but at least all the inhabitants of the island that should be asleep, stayed asleep.

The strain of keeping so many asleep was taxing on his mind, but he could handle it. He had to.

He looked back over his shoulder, seeing both the ice master and the big demon had reached the end of the bridge and jumped onto the island. The big demon was breathing heavily, the ice master not so much. Hiei nodded at them, putting a finger to his lips. Both of them knew to be absolutely silent on the island; not to speak, especially to Hiei, lest it break his concentration and an ice maiden woke up.

He sought out her boy's mind, 'wake up.' He sensed her boy jumped awake. 'Touya is on his way to get you.' Her boy reached over to wake the mute with him. 'Don't,' Hiei told him. 'Wake her when Touya arrives. I've put all the ice maidens asleep, but some were difficult to do. The guards nearby are asleep, but if she makes noise, they might break free and wake up. Keep her silent.'

'Stay with me,' her boy blurted out mentally. 'Until Master Touya reaches us. Please.'

Hiei nearly told him no because the mental strain was a lot to bare. He needed to be more focused on keeping the ice maidens asleep, but said none of that. 'Alright,' he promised.

Mentally he was juggling a lot, keeping ice maidens asleep, keeping in her boy's mind, and keeping tabs on the ice master to make sure he was going the right way. When he almost took a wrong turn, Hiei warned him back onto the right path.

Thankfully the ice master was a fast runner, not as fast as Hiei, but fast nevertheless. When he reached the dungeon, Hiei warned her boy that he was there and to wake up the mute with him.

Hiei watched through her boy's eyes as the mute awoke. He was tapping his fingers and moving his hands in an odd way, trying to convey to her that 'a friend of his mother's was on the way to rescue them, but you need to be quiet.'

The mute looked at him wide eyed, but dared to hardly breathe. Amazingly, she understood him. She looked so hopeful. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight.

When the ice master got there, he stopped abruptly in front of the jail cell, finger on his lips. Her boy and the mute stood up. The ice master swore under his breathe.

'What's wrong?' Hiei asked him through the fog of the headache he was feeling coming on.

'The wards, the ones against ice demons. I can't touch them...' the ice master admitted.

'You have to!' Hiei practically shouted back. 'Hit them with ice shards or something.'

'That doesn't work...' the ice master said.

'Try,' Hiei insisted. He watched through her boys eyes how the ice master tried and failed. The noise nearly woke two guards at the top of the stairs. Hiei had to turn his attention to them to keep them asleep.

Hiei was nearly at the thought that he would have to go himself now. The wards would not affect him.

"Wait," her boy whispered, holding his hand up. He was looking at the mute with him, her hands moving furiously. "Kotone says they have... gloves... the guards have gloves they use to take down and put up wards." He stopped talking, but shooed the ice master with his hands to go find some.

Hiei turned his mind back to the sleeping guards. They each had gloves in their pockets for the wards. Hiei rushed to tell ice master that.

The ice master lost no time stealing gloves from one of the guards and rushing back to tear down all the wards as silently as possible. Once the wards were down, her boy took the mute by the hand and ran with her after the ice master's lead.

She was too weak though, could hardly keep up with the ice master nor her boy. Her boy stopped for only a moment to pick her up and put her on his back and carry her. Her hands clung tightly to his shirt and her legs around his waist. Her boy struggled with her added weight, but pushed himself on to keep up with the ice master. By now they were close, so very close. Hiei could sense just how weak both of them were, and worryingly so.

"I see your father," the ice master puffed out just loud enough for her boy to hear. The mute stirred on her boy's back.

When the three of them reached Hiei and the big demon, Hiei half let himself relax, but made sure to keep all the other ice maidens asleep. Her boy stopped in front of him, gently letting the mute slip from his back. The tiny thing with a large belly took a brief moment to look from Hiei to her boy and back again. Her eyes went wide. She gave a frightened, guttural scream before turning to run back towards the ice maiden village.

"Kotone," her boy whispered when he would rather cry out.

He ran after her, taking only half a dozen steps to catch her and pull her over to him. She fought him; she hit him and kicked at him. She screamed, too. When none of that worked, she bite his hand, drawing blood, when he tried to cover her mouth.

"Why are we saving this feral one?" the big demon asked.

"Kotone, stop. Please," her boy begged with a quiet voice. "They're friends of my mother's." The big demon snorted in the background. "They're here to save us. Please. I will explain everything once we're free, I promise."

The mute still was trying to escape her boy and screamed. Her boy looked over at Hiei as he desperately dragged her towards the ice bridge. He would never make that jump with her in that state.

Hiei went around in front of her, entering her mind. She knew it the moment he did, too. He made sure of that. 'Cursed child! A cursed child! Son of a curse child!'

Hiei grabbed her batting hands, holding them tight. She tried and failed to break away from his grip. 'Yes, it's true,' he admitted. 'He lied about his parentage to keep himself safe. To keep me safe.'

She was still struggling, but tiring out now. 'You'll kill us all, I know you will! I grew up on stories that one day, if you survived your fall, that you would come here and kill us all!'

Hiei felt like he had been kicked in the stomach, remembering the last time he had been on this island and what he had intended to do. What he had almost done. Why he never carried it out.

'I am not here for that, and I don't plan on ever doing that,' Hiei told her, sending soothing thoughts into her mind. 'I am here for my son. To save him and to save you.' She stopped struggling then, but her boy still held tight to her.

She tightened her grip on Hiei's hands. 'How can I trust you...? Knowing what you are. Knowing what he is?'

'If you don't trust me, then trust her,' he told her, showing her images of Nishi: her strength, her power, her loyalty, her fierceness, her love. 'That's my mate. That's Izo's mother. Even if you can't trust any of us, you can trust her. We'll take you to her.'

The mute looked down at him, confusion on her face. She quit struggling against her boy. Hiei let her hands go and stepped back. "Let her go, Izo."

Her boy, shook his head. "No," he said, pulling her closer to him. He looked over at the ice bridge.

"Let her go," Hiei told him more forcefully. "Let her choose to either go with us or to stay here."

"If she stays, she'll die. Her child will die," her boy's voice cracked.

"You will not force her to go with us if she doesn't want to," Hiei told him.

Her boy's face went soft and his arms went slack. He dropped his hold on the ice maiden. She jumped away from him. She looked back and forth between her boy and Hiei. She also looked forward over to the ice bridge and back towards the village. 'She will keep me safe?' Her hand came around her stomach. 'Keep us safe?' Hiei nodded to her. Once Nishi learned of her, she would do anything and everything to help this mute.

The mute let out a whimper. She turned and ran. She ran away from the village and towards the ice bridge, jumping and making the distance, but just barely.

"Kotone!" her boy called after her. He ran after her, making the jump and staggering to stop right next to her. He pulled her over to him, hugging her tightly.


	39. Chapter 39

Father's rescue with the help of Haru and Ice Master... they had come and saved Izo and Kotone. Kotone had been getting so weak. Izo had been too. He felt weakness ebb throughout his arms and legs. Joined in there with a bitter chill he could not shake. Ice Master had opened the jail they were in, but only after Kotone told him where to get the gloves from to take down the wards. They had escaped and almost made it. Yet when Kotone had seen Father, she panicked and tried to flee back to the ice maiden's village. Izo had grabbed hold of her, refusing to let her go back there. She bit him, but he still held onto her. He was even tempted to jump off the island and to the bridge with her if he had to.

Until Father intervened. Izo had no idea what Father told her mentally, but it was enough to keep Kotone with them, even after Izo reluctantly let her go. She ran and jumped off the island and onto the ice bridge on her own volition. Izo jumped after her and stumbled to stop right next to her. The ice bridge beneath them was slick and steep. It was all he could do not to fall or slid down past her. He whispered her name, pulling her towards him to embrace her. Her hands rested on his shoulders as she rested her head against his chest.

He felt exhausted, but he knew they were not free yet. They needed to get down the bridge and as far away from the island as possible. He looked behind, seeing Father, then Ice Master, and lastly Haru jump the distance and land above them at the edge of the bridge.

Haru nodded down at the the bridge. "Slide down," he instructed. "It's steep enough. And faster. And probably safer than stumbling down like a bumbling fool."

Kotone's grip on his shirt tightened. Her face and knuckles were white. For someone who once jumped off the island and hoped she would survive the fall, she sure seemed scared of sliding down this bridge.

"Together?" he asked her, nodding towards the where the slope was the steepest.

She looked passed him and over at Father. She then looked up at him and nodded solemnly. She placed her shaking hand in his. He lead her over with him and sat down on the bridge, ready to slide. This was nothing like flying with his ice dragon. It made his stomach drop. There was barely enough room for them to ride together. She sat down between his legs, stretching hers out before her. He pushed them forward with his hands, sending the both of them speeding down the bridge turned slide together. He heard Kotone scream. He wanted to scream himself. He wanted to close his eyes. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to eat. He wanted something that was warm.

He did none of those things. He kept himself alert, watching as they sped down towards the ground. He did take a chance to look back behind them and see Father, Ice Master, and Haru riding on after them. He looked back foward, blinking as the speed of the wind stung his eyes. The air was so cold as it whizzed past him. He also felt like his head was swimming at the rush and the speed they were going at... possibly.

When they were nearly to the ground, the slope of the bridge turned slide shallowed out to the point where they were able to touch down on the icy mountain. It was cold here, too. He shivered involuntarily, not liking the cold right now for the first time in his life. Too cold. He shook his head, trying to clear the sleepiness and the dizziness in there. Kotone needed him and the five of them needed to get off of this mountain and as far away from that floating island as possible.

Stumbling, he guided her away from the end of the bridge. "Sit down," he breathed. "Let's just sit down." He stumbling again, feeling himself falling, but managing to sink himself down into the snow. He was shivering more and more, but hardly noticed. His hand buried itself in the snow, hitting the hard ground. The snow... It was hardly deep, maybe an inch or two. He figured this far above sea level, it would be deeper than this. He felt Kotone tapping him on the shoulder, whimpering. "Rest..." he told her, thinking, but not saying, 'I'll help you down the mountain in a minute.' He closed his eyes and let himself sink down into the shallow snow, laying curled up on his side.

"Izo!" he heard someone, a man, yell his name.

Izo tried to open his eyes, but found himself too tired. He curled in on himself, shivering violently now. 'An ice demon shouldn't shiver...' he thought to his ice dragon. In the rush to escape he had not thought to talk to it again now that the wards were gone. 'What happened to the wards?' he asked it.

'Master, you need to stay awake,' the ice dragon urged him. 'You were exposed to the wards so long that you can hardly stand the cold anymore.'

'Where did the wards go?' he asked. He faintly recalled seeing Ice Master rip them down. He gasped at the memory, remembering the escape, remember Kotone, remembering they still had to get down the mountain. He blinked his eyes open, seeing a view that was entirely too high for him. He felt big, firm hands clasping his arms and his legs together. His head kept moving side to side into a rapid rhythm. He looked ahead, seeing a sideways Kotone being carried by Father on his back. She was watching him. She taped Father on his bare shoulder. That was odd... Father was not wearing his cloak anymore. He rarely took that off, unless he was fighting.

Father halted, letting Kotone slip from his back. "Set him down, he's awake, Haru," Hiei said.

Izo felt like he was a rag doll as Haru took him out of the fireman's carry and set him on the snowy path before them. Izo coughed and shivered, wrapping his arms around his waist. He was freezing. He felt fabric restrict his movement. He looked down at his and saw he was wearing something black and slightly warm. Father's cloak.

"An ice demon doesn't get cold," he slurred out.

Father was kneeling down next to him, wrapping his arms around him. Father was so warm, almost roasting. Izo shook, his teeth chattering.

"A human does," Father told him. "So maybe a half demon can to, after being exposed to the cold and draining wards for as long as you were. Stay awake." Father pulled away from him, even though Izo did not want him to. Ice Master was not far away. He handed a water canteen to Father. Father held the canteen in his hand for a few moments. Then he handed Izo the water canteen, almost too hot to touch now. "Drink it or hold it," Father pressed him. Izo clutched it to his chest. The burning felt good. "We're about halfway down the mountain. The sun is coming up. The village, the one that Haru and Airi had stopped at before they caught in that avalanche, is not much farther than that. You just have to make it that far."

Izo closed his eyes, wanting to sink back to sleep. A hand cracked across his face, making his teeth rattle. He opened his eyes. He saw Father was still close to him, trying to help warm him up, but it was not him who struck him. Kotone stood over him, looking very worried. She kicked him then, right in the shin. He grimaced as the not numb part of his legs ached in pain at that kick. She shook her head slowly. She knelt down and tried to yank him back to his feet. She shook, unable to pull him up. He tried to help her help him up, but his legs refused to anything beyond shake.

Kotone let go of him and stood up. She pointed at Father and motioned back to Izo. Father watched her, curious. "You said you would only let me carry you. If I carry him, then Touya or Haru will have to carry you. You can't go faster enough on your own and we can't slow down."

Kotone shook her head. She pointed at Izo and mimed shivering. She pointed at Father and mimed fanning herself. She snapped her fingers and pointed down the mountain.

"No, we stay together," Father refused as he pulled Izo up to his feet. "You don't trust Haru or Touya and you barely trust me or Izo."

Izo felt a big set of hands pick him up and put him on Father's back. Father was so warm. Izo clung to him as hard as possible with his numb hands. He just wanted to be warm. He never, ever wanted to be this cold again. Why had Father not been carrying him in the first place?

Kotone stepped over to them, shoving at Father to move forward. Then she stepped back over to Ice Master. She nodded.

"Go," Ice Master told Father. "He needs to get warm. There's hot springs in the village. We'll get her there and meet you there."

Father ran then, sprinting down the mountain. Izo closed his eyes, but fought to stay awake. The wind whistled passed his ears. Father was so warm... Izo felt himself shivering less, but his weariness grew. He was getting warmer now, so why not sleep...?

When he came to next, Izo woke with a start. He sat up fast, but about half way up, he smacked his head on something hard. He laid back down, bringing his hands up to his now sore forehead, groaned at the nuisancy pain. He opened his eyes, staring at long, narrow planks of wood above them. He looked around, seeing he was in a narrow bed, the bottom bed of a bunk bed. The blankets on top of him were a tangled, hot mess. He kicked them off and swung his feet down to the ground. He stopped short of almost bringing his feet down on Father, who was laying on a futon next to his bed.

He heard shuffling above him. He turned to look up, seeing Kotone climbing her way down from the top bunk. She clamored down and over to him. She touched his face and then his neck, checking his pulse. Up close, he noticed she was in newer, cleaner clothing and looked like she had bathed recently. Her tangled, teal hair had been combed and even trimmed. It shimmered as it cascaded down her back and shoulders. She smelled as clean as she looked. Where as, he was still unbathed, even though he was in a fresher, cleaner set of new clothes.

She bent her head to his resting her forehead against his. Her hand trailed its way up to the base of his jaw. She breathed out a sigh of relief, a hint of mint on her breath. She shifted her mouth, bringing it against the side of his face for a quick kiss there. She pulled back from him and held her hand up with four fingers. He noticed her face was blushing.

"You were asleep for four days," Father's voice informed him. Izo looked away from Kotone and down towards Father, who was sitting up and shoving off his own blankets with grace and ease. "I got you to this village mid morning. To the village's healer. He had you warmed up by early evening. After hot blanket after hot blanket was thrown on you, you finally managed to stop shivering. He did say you would need a couple days to rest, to sleep and recover."

Izo sat there, numb, but not cold. Not sure how to respond. "Thank you," he breathed, feeling it was an appropriate thing to say. The room they were in felt hot and almost stuffy. "Where are we? Where are Master Touya and Master Haru?" he asked.

Kotone pointed at the ground, then the door, and then to the left.

"We're at the healers house. Lucky use he had two rooms to spare. As for the shinobu, they're next door and on the left," Father said, raising to his feet. "You need to eat something. Both of you. I will let the healer know you are awake."

Father left the room, leaving the two of them in silence. Silence. It was good, it was nice, in its own way. 'Thank you,' he mouthed over to Kotone.

She nodded at him. She stepped over to him, sitting next to him on his bottom bunk. She took his hand in hers and wrapped her other hand along his forearm. She leaned her head against his upper arm, humming under her breath.

"What's wrong?" he asked, worried suddenly for her or for her child.

She raised her head up, a determined, yet nervous look flashing in her eyes. She moved so fast, he hardly had time to react. Half her mouth came in contact with half of his mouth for just the oddest kiss.

While he still sat in shock from that half kiss, Kotone had stood up and retreated to the door. She ran from the room without so much as a glance back at him.


	40. Chapter 40

"Mother, sit still-" Hikari began, but softened her tone, "please..."

Nanashi had been sitting on the couch in the front parlor, waiting impatiently for Hiei, Izo, and the others to arrive. Hikari and Airi were with her as well. Takashi had been with them, but over the baby monitor, they heard Kaze had awaken from his afternoon nap earlier than usual, so he went to fetch him after Hikari persuasively asked him too. Hikari had her way with him, and what was more interesting was he seemed to enjoy pleasing her. When she asked him to go get Kaze, he went without argument, much to Nanashi's surprise.

Nanashi looked down, seeing her right leg was shaking and bouncing without her noticing, until that moment.

"Sorry," Nanashi said, standing up rather than sitting still she paced the room. Hiei had told her only 10 minutes ago that they were coming up on the castle and that it would take some coaxing to get this young woman Kotone to come to the castle. She had never left the ice maiden's floating island before and was rather shy and untrusting, given her circumstances. Nanashi could imagine both Hiei and Izo trying to convince her to come with them.

Izo... Nanashi's mind wandered as she paced, thinking about what Hiei had told him since he had been close to contact her telepathically. Izo's rescue of Kotone, the rescue of the two of them, the bond between them. Izo was protective of her and Kotone seemed reliant on him. She stuck close to him, sleeping next to him when they made camp at night on her own accord.

Nanashi was not sure what to think of this second hand information. She really just wanted to see it for herself to see what she could make of Kotone. Plus dealing with Touya telling Izo about Jin...

'We're here,' Hiei told Nanashi telepathically.

She gasped quietly, and went back to the couch to sit down next to Hikari. "They're coming," she said. She smoothed her hands over the things of her pants, smoothing what was already smooth. "Remember to be calm so not to frighten Kotone."

"Haru is with them yet, right?" Airi asked.

"Yes and Touya," Nanashi answered. Her ears perked up at the sound of the front door's latch clicking. She breathed deeply, trying to keep herself calm as he fist came to rest in front of her mouth. She just wanted to see Izo again, to rush over to him and hug without letting go, but also knew if she frightened Kotone...

The three of them jumped, seeing Haru come into the room first with Touya not far behind him. Airi bounded up, excited to see her master. She at least kept her mouth shut, bar a breathy sound of excitement.

"Aye, there, little one. All safe and under protection now?" Haru asked her, a little cheekily. Nanashi blinked over at him, frowning slightly. She also caught Touya shake his head just slightly. The three of them stepped together out of the room and into the hallway, allowing themselves to have their own reunion while Nanashi and her family have their own.

After the three shinobu left the room, Nanashi caught a glimpse of Hiei in the hallway. He stepped into the room, moving off to the right of it. He had his head band off. Nanashi and Hikari stood up, almost in time with each other. Hiei held his hand up to them, stopping them from stepping towards him. Nanashi did not dare to breathe as she watched on.

Hiei turned back to look out the door to the hallway. "Come on," he called to the softly.

Izo stepped sideways in through the door, bringing Kotone in with him under his arm. Izo was so thin, thinner than he had ever been. Nanashi felt a sharp, cutting desire to starve the person who starved her son. Starve them to death if it were possible. Kotone was skin and bones as well next to him. Except for her noticeable belly protruding from her torso. Nanashi recalled being that pregnant once and figured how much longer she had to go.

Izo was able to lead Kotone far enough into the room that Hiei could shut the door softly behind them. Kotone hid her face in Izo's chest with Izo's left arm wrapped protectively around her.

"Mother," Izo whispered, reaching his right hand towards Nanashi, but when Kotone squirmed in his other arm, he brought down to her hair. "Shh," he breathed down to her. "It's safe here, just like we promised you."

Kotone had frozen, not moving in Izo's grasp. Izo glanced up at Nanashi, nodding his head to her, but then shaking his head at Hikari. Nanashi stepped over to the pair of them, biting her lip. Hiei had promised this skinny, little ice maiden that Nanashi would keep her safe, even though Nanashi had no idea how she could be expected to that if any issues arose. She was still irked at him for that, even if it was a promise done to get Kotone to escape with them when she realized what Hiei was.

Nanashi reached them, bringing a gentle hand to Izo's right shoulder when she would rather throw his arms around him. She kept her distance, for now, for Kotone's sake. She saw Kotone glance up at her, turning her face just enough to do so.

"You were starved? And frozen?" Nanashi said, trying to keep her tone from having a bite.

Izo opened his mouth and nodded. "Father and the shinobu masters got us out as fast as they could. Before any of that could adversely affect us."

Nanashi did not speak, but she thought, 'I'll kill them all.'

'No you won't,' Hiei told her looking over at her, but not speaking. 'Leave them be. They won't leave their island.'

Nanashi frowned at him, trying not to glare at him. She softened her face intentionally, stepping closer to Kotone. She gently put a hand on Kotone's shoulder. She felt Kotone jump through her bony shoulder, but she did not pull away. "Kotone, I'm Nanashi. Izo's mother," she told her softly. She hummed under her breath, not sure what else to say. "Your about six months along?"

Kotone looked up at her, wide eye. She shook her head. "She says eight," Hiei relayed. "The healer in the ice village we stopped at says the child is smaller than he should be though."

"Mute, right," Nanashi mumbled. To Kotone, she asked, "would you like to go somewhere to rest before dinner? Maybe wash up?"

Nanashi held her hand out to Kotone, meaning to carefully lead her along with her to the room next to Izo's room that they had set up. Kotone stared at her wide eyed. She looked up at Izo, who nodded supportively down to her. Kotone stepped away from him, her cold, bird-like hand reaching out and clasping Nanashi's.

And then Takashi thundered in with his heavy feet, carrying a loud and joyful Kaze. Kotone flinched, jumping closer to Nanashi. Nanashi pulled her against her, holding her close in case she tried to flee. She shook like a leaf.

Takashi stopped in the doorway, looking perplexed. Kaze ceased laughing and went quiet in an instant. "What's wrong?" Takashi asked, his voice sounding so loud in the room.

"Shut up, you fool. You're too loud," Hiei scolded him.

He stepped over to Takashi, taking the silent, cautious Kaze in his arms. Kaze had been watching Nanashi with Kotone curiously. He did break his gaze on her long enough to excited jump into Hiei's arms.

"Hey," Takashi snapped irritably at Hiei. "I forgot, I was kind of distracted when I came in."

Hikari stepped over to them, intervening. "Takashi, let's go see... hmm... if the kitchen knows to cook something Izo and Kotone can eat."

Hikari had already taken his hand and was tugging him out the door while he was complaining balefully, "it's not my fault."

"I know," Hikari said in an understanding, but sighing tone.

The sight of that did make Izo smirk as he watched them leave for together. He stepped over to Nanashi with Kotone. "My sister and her mate," he told Kotone softly. "He's loud and boisterous and Father still doesn't like him, but he's a paper tiger. Go with Mother. She'll you're safe with her."

Kotone nodded, not looking up at anyone.


	41. Chapter 41

Kotone thankfully had come to trust Mother like she had trusted Father, even if she was distrusting of Sister and wary of Takashi. It relieved Izo that being at home with him made her feel safe. Asa, the wolf healer that lived in the village, and Dr. Daiki from the Spirit World, came to check on her and help her as well. It took Father relaying some information from her to them so she could answer their questions. Dr. Daiki also put her on bed rest until she delivered. He also wanted her gain weight and eat more before she delivered. Both were meant to build up her strength, which she did lack from her imprisonment. Mother had mention she was concerned with how skinny she was.

Dr. Daiki also insisted she go to the Spirit World when it was time to deliver in case anything went array. It took Mother's convincing to get her to agree to that.

Izo stayed with Kotone as much as he could. She had told him through their sign language that she did want to sleep alone though. He was not a fan of that decision, but agreed with her amicably. He talked with her a lot, too and to try to develop the sign language between the two of them more.

Now she was better rested and better fed. Mother saw to it personally about the better fed part with a renewed vigor for cooking. Mother was also working on making a pair of gloves or something similar with a voice attribute that would allow Kotone to speak in a way again.

With her renewing strength, Kotone was more motivated to work on the sign language they had created between each other. He shared about Ice Master had released from his apprenticeship as a Shinobu, telling him he could join them when he was ready later on in the future. He did tell her that he wanted to go back to that one day, but when she and her child were in a more stable position. She had gotten quiet at that comment, but did say thank you in her quiet way. She always got withdrawn when he talked about her and her child's future, even after he promised her she could stay with him as long as she wished.

When she wished to be alone, he would give her a brief kiss, unless she pulled away from him when he went for it. Father had told him to let her be, Mother to, but in each their own way.

Izo wanted her though, to keep her safe and her child safe, to protect them both. He made that promise to her and he intended to keep it. Mate claiming her one day would solidify his promise for certain. He daydreamed about it, hoping it was kept secret from Father. Father told him he had to let her chose it too though. Mother told him to be patient with her with all that had happened to her. She still had yet to share with any of them how she had gotten pregnant.

The day she went into labor was a difficult one. Izo had been sleeping in the room next to hers, when he would have rather been laying in the bed next to her. He woke up about an hour before sunrise with a loud knock on his bedroom door.

He rolled over in bed, blinking away the sleep before he could look out the window to see dawn was light grey in hue. The loud knocking turned to pounding on his door.

"Who is it?" he called out hoarsely. Way too early.

He rolled off the bed, stumbling over to the door in a sleepy haze. He opened the door to see Kotone standing before, pajama pants wet, hands around her swollen belly, and shaking with fright. He felt alert at once, almost going into to hug her, but thinking better of it at the last second. Instead, he put his hands on her shoulder, saying, "it's alright. You're going to be alright."

She closed her eyes tightly shut and scrunched up her face. When she breathed out, she opened her eyes. She raised herself up on her toes and kissed him intentionally on the mouth.

When she pulled away, he sprung into action, sending her back to her room and then getting the others they needed before going to the hospital in the Spirit World: Asa, Dr. Daiki, Mother, and Father. Kotone had said she wanted Mother and Father with them when she delivered, considering she found Mother's presence comforting and liked Father's ability to read her mind and know what she was thinking without struggling to communicate with anyone. Mother's gloves that would allow her to speak were not ready yet.

Sister and Takashi had stayed behind at the castle with a promise to help with the child after it was born were tasked with running the castle and looking after Brother while Kotone delivered and everyone else was in the Spirit World.

The journey to the Spirit World ended up being the easiest part of the whole day.

Dr. Daiki had said she was delivering two weeks early than expected, but they could manage it. Kotone was frightened in the beginning, even with Izo trying to reassure her. The contractions for her started off mild, but they progressed too slowly, which had Dr. Daiki concerned, but not saying anything one way or another over it. Stage one of her labor went slow according to him, especially since it likely started when she was sleeping, before she actually woke Izo up. Then in lasted all day long, right up to sunset. Dr. Daiki pointed out that when it hit 15 hours, it had been too long. Especially with how painful her early contractions had been for her. Dr. Daiki thought at first she was just exaggerating how much it hurt when she relayed that to Izo and Father, but Father was quick to point out she was actually down playing the amount of pain she was already feeling.

Dr. Daiki kept on checking her periodically via hologram looking, seeing if she was ready for the second stage of labor yet. He also kept trying to tell her to try and sleep between contractions to keep up her strength, but she refused. Her adrenaline was too spiked for her to sleep, even if she wanted to.

It was a long day and seemed ready to get longer. It took Kotone 16 hours to get to the second stage of labor, which concerned Asa, especially sense she kept crying out louder than expected with her contractions. For a such a tongue-less woman, she surely could scream.

It took her over three hours to almost ready to deliver after that. 19 hours and still no child... She unwillingly tried to sleep due to her exhaustion, only to be awoken by each new contraction she had. Both Asa and Dr. Daiki had given her medicine to help ease her pain, but it hardly seemed to be working for her to Izo. It made his stomach sink like a lead weight to watch putter through the pain and exhaustion and there was nothing he could do to ease it, besides hold her hand.

Mother grew increasingly uncomfortable, suggesting she consider having a C section, but Kotone refused out of fright, even started whimpering at the idea. Father mentally told all but Kotone that if she needed to be unconscious, he could do it, but she would be greatly upset if he did it against her wishes.

When she was finally ready to deliver, she was exhausted and it was late in the night. She was pale and sweaty, her screams petered out into hoarse whimpers. Dr. Daiki asked her one more time if she wanted to, she could have a C section. She shook her head in outright refusal. Dr. Daiki looked crossed over that decision. Dr. Daiki had warned her her contractions were too strong and she seemed too weak, but if they let the labor continue naturally, she or the baby could be injured by the delivery.

She still refused, hitting of level of such exhaustion that she could hardly push. Izo offered her more spirit energy, but Mother told him not because it would not help her. She had no need for spirit energy, rather she needed her own physical strength that she lacked.

Dr. Daiki checked her again, telling her labor had started and she needed to push, but she could hardly do so. Asa tried to soothe her and encourage her, but she could hardly push, even when her body told her to.

Another hour passed and still no son. Kotone whimpered, exhausted. She was pale, clammy, and shaky. She whined out as another contraction ripped through her. When that finished, she turned her head towards Father, closed her eyes, and nodded glumly.

"Finally," Father muttered out in exasperation. He stepped over to Kotone, putting one hand on her forehead, forcing her to lean her head back down on the pillow behind her. Her eyes stayed closed and her body seemed to relax. "I'm shielding her from the pain, but I can't keep it up for long. She wants him out as quick as you can."

Dr. Daiki and Asa both sprung into action. Dr. Daiki stepped over to her, checking on her delivery progress. "He's far enough along now we can just pull him out."

Asa left Kotone long enough to get a set of forceps before returning to her. "She's bleeding," Asa warned Dr. Daiki in a hushed tone.

Dr. Daiki checked her once more, seeing where she from bleeding from. Izo checked as well, but could not see the place from which she bled through the hologram view.

He waved the hologram away. "We still have to continue. Go carefully extracting the baby. When her delivery is finished, we can heal her up."

Izo stayed up close to Kontone's head, holding her limp hand and looking on her face. His stomach rolled oddly enough at the smell of blood growing stronger in the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her lower abdomen contract. He closed his eyes and turned his head away, not wanting to see any of it. He held his breath. He heard Father grunt. He heard Kotone whimper. He tried to escape the sight all of it, until he heard the sound of the newborn crying.

He turned back, looking down at Asa holding the boy wrapped in a towel. She held him in his arms, fumbling to reach for the clamp she needed for the cord. She managed to get the clamp down, but the sterile scissors were close. Izo stepped over to the scissors, grabbing them before Asa could. Asa instead took his hand in hers, guiding him to cut it.

Once finished, Asa stood up in a rush, passing the boy into Izo's arms unexpectedly. He was warm, no hot. Izo could feel himself starting to sweat from the heat of this tiny newborn.

"Step out of the room, right now. The three of you," Dr. Daiki said urgently.

Izo had no chance to ask as Mother appeared next to him, grabbing him by the upper arm, and tugging him out of the door right on Father's heels. Izo held the newborn close, looking down at him, not sure what to think. He crying softly, sounding almost like a mewling kitten. Izo took a loose corner of the towel wrapped around him, wiping at his face with the utmost gentleness.

Tiredly, Izo leaned his back against the nearest wall and slid down carefully into a seated position on the floor, holding... he could not think of the name Kotone was thinking about giving her son... She had kept saying she was unsure what she would name him when he had asked her before. Maybe Father knew, having been in her head all day.

Izo looked up, saying, "Father." He stopped when he noticed Father standing in front of the door to Kotone's door, almost like a guard. Mother was pacing, fist resting in front of her pale face.

Father tersely said, "yes?" drawing Izo's attention back to him and away from Mother.

Izo did not want to speak with how Father and Mother were looking. He did anyway, "what does Kotone want to name him? She never told me..."

Father glanced back at the door. "She still wasn't sure," he stated in a voice with no tone.

His voice made Izo's ears pull back. He jumped when he saw a Spirit World nurse running down the hallway towards them, holding a bag with red fluid in his hand.

"This room!" Mother called out, gesturing towards the door that Father had just stepped away from.

The nurse turned and went into the room while Father shut the door right behind him.

"What's wrong?" Izo asked, trying not to panic as he held the newborn boy in his arms still. The baby kicked underneath the blanket. Izo gingerly moved to his feet.

Mother stepped over to him, hands coming to rest firmly on his shoulders before he could even think to move. Mother glanced back at Father for a second before looking at Izo. "She was bleeding too much, potentially hemorrhaging, that's why we had to leave the room. She needed to deliver first before she could be healed though. It made the bleeding worse, so did delivering the afterbirth. We needed to be out of the way in case..."

Izo stared at Mother blankly, going numb everywhere but his arms holding the squirming newborn. His mouth move to talk, but no sound came out. He felt voiceless, understanding better what Kotone went through every moment that he knew her.

Father spoke up next. "They've stopped the bleeding now, and are giving her a transfusion in hopes it matches hers well enough. She is very weak right now, exhausted and pained. She's unconscious, but better off now that she was five minutes ago."

"Her son..." Izo found his voice. "She hasn't even met him yet..." As if he knew he was being spoken off, the newborn mewed in Izo's arms. "What should I do now...?" he asked, feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over him.

Mother reached her hand up, brushing a stray bit of bangs of out of Izo's face. He had not even realized it was there until Mother did that. "We'll give her son to the nurses waiting to take care of him."

"And then check on her?" Izo rushed out the question.

Mother looked back once more at Father before turning back to Izo. "If you would like that," she told him with a tone that made him want to despair.

He swallowed thickly, nodding. Mother took his upper arm in hand, and he began to numbly following her down the hallway.

He looked down at the whimpering infant in his arms. 'My son,' he thought silently to himself as a promise to child to care for him, no matter what happened next.


	42. Chapter 42

The pitiful mute... She had sandbagged herself when she did not listen to what the doctor told her to do. Hiei tried and failed to get her to listen to him as well, silently arguing with her her whole labor to get her to come to her senses. She should have given up when the pain got too intense for her. Her stupidity nearly killed her. Had the wolf healer not moved so quickly when wrapping up her delivery, the mute would have bled out.

Luckily for the mute's son, he was unharmed in the delivery, born underweight and small, but otherwise healthy. Her son had taken a shine to him the second he saw him. He considered the mute's son his son already, even though he had not discussed that concretely with the mute. Both of them were a handful of stress.

The mute slept for fifteen hours straight after her delivery, which was impressive by hibernation standards. Her son slept in an uncomfortable looking chair next to her bed. Nishi and Hiei had rested in the near by waiting room.

When the mute finally was roused, her son was quick to announce it. Hiei and Nishi were in the room when her son brought the mute's son to her. She was reticent to hold him at first and tried not to blink either. The mute's son woke up in her arms, fussing. That broke her ice cold resolve to be emotionless. She blinked, pausing to close her eyes long enough for a single tear gem to form and fall from her eye onto the cloth wrapped around the baby in her arms. Stiffly, she tucked the gem securely in the folds of the cloth.

'Is he worth it...?' she thought silently to herself. Hiei heard her, unbidden. She thought about the assault she went through briefly, her failure to hide her pregnancy from the other ice maidens, her first imprisonment, her daring first escape and jumping off the floating island in hopes to survive the fall, her recapture, her imprisonment with her son, her second escape, and her recent time in his girl's castle.

Nishi picked up on her morose, without really knowing the source. She stepped over to the mute, leaning down by her bedside. "Is there anything we can do? Something we can get you?"

The mute looked up at her feebly before passing her son to Nishi. Nishi took the mute's son, surprised to be handed to him. Nishi looked over at Hiei, a bit bewildered. 'Talk with her,' she pleaded silently, glancing down at the mute. 'She can speak freely with you.' The mute sat stock still, hands resting in her lap, eyes trained down on them.

Hiei's eyes flicked over at her son, sitting next to the mute. The foolish mute did not have to do anything and her son was willing to do whatever it took to protect her. "Out," Hiei said to both Nishi and her son. "I need to speak with her alone."

Her son sat up straighter. "She just woke up," her son protested.

"Izo," Nishi said in a tone that would not allow him to argue.

Her son brushed his fingertips along the mute's folded hands in a gentle caress. Then he rose up and left the room with Nishi, who still held the mute's son.

'How are you feeling?' Hiei asked her, trying to carefully get her to speak and open up to him. Yet also wanted to protect her son from being hurt by the mute if it came to that.

She did not want to speak with him, but being silently mentally was tens of times harder than being silent verbally. 'Everything hurts, and yet nothing hurts,' she admitted reluctantly. Her melancholy outweighed her physical pain.

'You're still protected,' he told her firmly. 'As long as you're both with us, you still under our protection.'

'You're not my sisters,' she thought cuttingly. She regretted those words as soon as she thought them.

'No, we're not. None of us were cruel nor heartless to you,' he cut back. 'My son saved you on impulse. He went without so you could eat. He insisted you be rescued as well. We took you in and cared for you. My son-,' he stopped, unsure how to finish that thought.

The mute finished for him, 'I didn't make him fall in love with me.' She was in emotional turmoil, but he wanted her to work it out now and worked passed it.

'He grew up on fairy tales and noble knight stories from the Human World, I wouldn't be surprised that he had fallen for the damsel in distress,' Hiei explained.

'I didn't wish for it,' she thought feebly.

'It still happened,' he warned her. 'If nothing else, handle that with grace and let him down gently if you don't desire him back.'

She pictured her son and his doting on her. She liked him surely, but it made her stomach sour at the idea of him loving her when she felt she did not deserve it. 'I want...' she shook her head, but pictured the ice maiden's floating island. The idea of that being home made her go frigid with rage at how she had been treated. She thought of his girl's castle and its unfamiliar halls. Safe, but new. '... to go home.'

'Your child is where your home is now,' he told her firmly. She scold at that, not wanting to love that child because of how he came to be and the burden on him, yet she could not help herself loving him. 'You don't have to stay in Alaric to stay safe and be protected. The king's home territory has many a man who would willingly mate claim a woman who is proven fertile in hopes to increase their population numbers.'

She recoiled at the idea of going to yet another strange land. 'I don't want that,' she admitted.

'There are other options. You can become a refugee in the Human World,' he suggested, thinking about how Yukina had chosen that path.

'I don't want that,' she recoiled at the very thought. The idea of going to a new world terrified her.

'There are other territories in the Demon World that you could take refuge in,' Hiei suggested.

The mute shook her head, lacking the desire to go anywhere new or unfamiliar to her. 'No.'

Hiei sighed. 'So long as you don't lead Izo on, you can stay in Alaric as long as you wish,' he promised her. 'No strings attached. Unless you hurt him, mislead him, or lie to him. Then you're gone.' She squirmed at that underlying threat. 'Be honest with him, even if it means you don't want him beyond a room mate essentially.'

'That's not my home,' she said forlornly. He could sense her trying to ice over at the idea, to shut down and go numb.

'It can be if you want it to be,' Hiei promised.

She wanted to shut down, freeze all her emotion and be cold and unfeeling, like the other ice maidens Hiei had encountered in his life. She could not though. She loved her child in spite of herself. She broke down in that moment, facing her emotional turmoil and her pain. She cried freely, oblivious of the tear gems that fell when she did. Her head hunkered down into her hands as she let her emotions wash over her, embracing them instead of pushing them away.


	43. Chapter 43

Izo met with his family in what should be deemed Sister's presence chamber, but where Father usually worked in her stead. Mother, Sister, Takashi, and Father were there with him, in a private meeting. Brother was was with a nanny as the impending conversation was deemed inappropriate for his hearing.

Kotone and her son, finally named by her, Koji, had returned to Alaric after resting and recovering in the Spirit World hospital for three days. Kotone had to be healed repeated in order to help her recover physically from the birth, while Koji needed to be checked over and feed often in hopes he would gain weight.

When both mother and son returned to Alaric, they both had to be cared for and were told to be fed a lot and often. Ten days had past since they had returned. Koji thrived, hungry nearly every hour on the hour. He stayed in the nursery with Brother, cared for by the same nannies, as well as Izo and his family members. It made it easier to care for him with everyone taking turns and shifts.

Kotone, though physically healthy except for being underweight, was not thriving. She ate little and wept often now. She barely left her bed and never left her rooms. It took lots of coaxing from Mother to get her to shower. She was more stressful to deal with than Koji.

Still, she had stayed, morose and all. Izo had been frightened that she would flee, and possibly not with Koji when they had gotten back to the Demon World. Izo felt like her doing that would make him crumble like she was now.

"So what are we going to do with the ice maiden?" Sister voice said, snapping Izo back into the conversation.

"She's hardly a maiden anymore," Takashi said. Father gave him a scowl. "What? She just had a child. She's not a maiden if she has a child."

Father grunted, already annoyed with Takashi and when the conversation had barely started. "She stays here, heals up and rest up. She's opened herself to feeling emotions where it's normal for the ice _maidens_ to shut down and freeze away their emotions, rather than feel them. It's why they only shed one tear when they have a child. It's the only time they are allowed to express themselves and their love for their children."

"But Aunt Yukina cries like all the time," Sister interjected. "I've seen it."

Mother spoke next, "Yukina embraced her emotions a long time ago. She is free to feel joy as well as sorrow. And when I talked to her yesterday about Kotone, she did warn me that beginning to express rather than surpress emotions is overwhelming at the beginning. Not to mention her emotions after having a child and being severally homesick."

"She's hardly taking care of her child," Takashi griped. "The lot of us are doing it instead."

Father cut him a look, saying, "once a day caring for a child must be hard for you. Being one of the seven who are helping. Imagine if it was you by yourself. Or her by herself."

Takashi flustered. Sister stepped near him, as if trying to calm him down. "Eight would be better," he grumbled. "Besides, why is she homesick? Those other ice _demons_ ripped out her tongue, starved her, and imprisoned her. They were going to kill her, her child, and kill Izo to when she falsely claimed he was the father of her child."

Mother spoke soothingly, "it was the only home she's ever known. Only family she's ever known. And they turned on her, for no fault of her own. For an attack she didn't even remember happened."

"How did she not remember what- what happened?" Sister asked in an almost disbelieving tone.

"She blocked it out," Father explained. "She had no clue what had happened to her when she awoke the next day. When she found out she was pregnant, she told one of the older ice maidens, worried about being pregnant too young-"

"Pregnant too young?" Takashi asked, perplexed.

Mother stepped in. "Ice maidens have a child immaculately at age 100. Always a girl and always an ice maiden."

Takashi's face scrunched up as if he thought the idea absurd. "Great Mother," he muttered.

"Anyway," Father continued. "That's how she was caught. She didn't remember anything, so when questioned, she didn't know what to tell them. They thought she was lying, so her tongue was cut out." Father's nose twitched in displeasure. "After that, she remember about ten percent of what happened, but could not communicate that with her sister. Now, she remembers about a fourth of what happened, with gaps in her memory that could span minutes or hours. She hopes she never recalls the whole thing."

The room took on a somber atmosphere with a heavy silence hanging over them for a few moments.

"And she wants to go back there?" Takashi asked, breaking the silence.

Father hissed, "she doesn't want to go back there, she misses what her life was like there before she was attacked."

"She grieves for it," Izo realized out loud. Mother nodded over to Izo.

Takashi looked ruffled. "Those ice maidens had no right to mistreat her, nor Izo, especially with impunity."

"What are you saying, now?" Father asked him in an irked tone.

Takashi looked around the room, handing out open. "They can't get away with that. We shouldn't let them get away with that. My father has allowed the ice maidens their own right to act independent of the his rule, but only so long as they never harmed a subject of the Demon World. They harmed Izo. They've forfeited their right to independence when they tortured and imprisoned Izo and should be punished for it."

"No," Father said firmly.

Takashi stared at him in disbelief. "You can't possibly be considering letting them go unpunished?"

"They're cold, emotionless, and frigid. They've been set apart from the Demon World in self exile for so long that they don't have any emotions beyond numbness. Their ways were harsh, but they don't understand why. Without emotions, they lack morality. They're better of left alone," Father finished, voice dripping with pity.

Takashi grunted, annoyed. "My Father will hear about this," he threatened limply.

Father rolled his eyes "He already knows. I spoke with him about it two days ago mentally. He would have preferred to attack, too, until we spoke."

"When did you have time to contact him?" Takashi griped.

"When you were feeding Koji," Father retorted with a hint of a smirk.

"Can you stop?" Hikari said to both of them. "So, Kotone's staying?"

"As long as she wants to," Mother said.

Izo silently hoped to himself that it would be forever. "As long as you give her your leave, my lady," he teased Sister.

"Ha ha," she faked laughed at him. Then she added, "yeah, she can stay."

"She doesn't do anything," Takashi butted in.

"She depressed," Sister told him.

"Then heal her of it," Takashi responded.

"You can't heal depression like a leg wound," Father snapped. "Your mother is a healer. What makes you think-"

Mother gasped loudly. Father fell silent at the sound of her. Mother's eye came to rest on Izo, making him feel uncomfortable. "Izo can," she recalled.

Izo blinked up at Mother, confused. Aunt Yukina nor Asa ever trained him how to do that. They did not know how to do that either. He tried to think of a moment where he had ever done such a thing. "I can't..." he breathed.

"Yes, you can," Mother said confidently. "You've done it to me before." She put her hand on the middle of her chest. "After I woke up from miscarrying Ryu." She went silent for a moment, swallowing. "You were so young, but you placed your hand here and healed away the sadness and loss I was feeling. Not completely of course, but enough that I could manage..."

Takashi spoke, "you lost- ow!"

Sister had stomped on her mate's foot. "Shut up. Now," she commanded. Takashi huffed, but kept quiet.

Izo thought back over that time, much of which he remembered. He remember a lot, a lot more than Sister ever did. "I don't remember," he admitted. He was unsure if he should believe it's true if he could not remember it. It was not possible. No healer can do that, none that he knew of anyway. Mother must have mis-remembering.

Mother stepped closer to him, taking his hands in hers. He looked down at her, feeling more like he was the shorter one of the two of them in that moment. "If you've done it before, you can do it again," Mother told him confidently. Izo shook his head, she had to be wrong. Her grip on his hands grew firmer. "You have to try," she said in a tone that was almost scolding. Her hands and tone softened. "We know you love her-"

"What? Since when?" Takashi's voice may has well have bellowed. "Ow! Would you stop that?"

"Stop ruining moments and I'll stop treading on your foot," Sister warned him.

Mother held Izo's attention. "You have to try. It may at the very well least bring her comfort."

Try to do the impossible. "Okay, I'll try," he agreed, all while thinking it would never work.


	44. Chapter 44

The world for her had been silenced. She hated it, dreaded recalling it. The crime committed against her was not her fault, and yet she was punished for it. She had sought help when she found herself pregnant, and was punished for it. She rued that day and her stupid decision to ask for help and be demeaned for it. Be punished for it. All because she could not remember much of what happened.

She tried to leave, try to escape her punishment. When her prison cell had been left unlocked by accident, she had made a run for it. She ran and jumped from their island, not sure what would happen when she did that. She hoped she would survive the fall.

She did, in a way. That young, half ice demon, half human caught her half way to the ground. More like an ice knight. She panicked at first when the ice dragon caught her. She feared some wild beast had caught her to make a meal of her.

Yet it was this youngling, Izo, who caught her. Caught her and then got caught with her by her sisters. He did not even know her and tried to save her. She did not want him killed for that. She lied to save him, even though he was punished and tortured for it. The guilt weighed her down as she had to watch him starving, push the meager amount of food they were given over to her. Some days, she was too selfish and too hungry to insist on sharing anyway.

Yet he had her rescued right along with him by those two other ice demons and that terrifying fire demon. One look at both their eyes and she saw their father-son connection. She feared it meant she was leaving one prison where death was at the end of the line, to another prison far worse than that.

Yet the terrifying fire demon entered her mind and calmed her down while Izo clung to her, refusing to let her flee back to her sisters. He promised her his... human... mate would protect her. She had hard heard of humans, but had never seen anyone beyond her sisters and her attacker. She had not been sure exactly how that could have been possible as humans in the Demon World were rare because the air was half toxic for them.

Yet she went with them, forcing herself to only trust the father and the son. She panicked as she watch Izo succumb to hypothermia, an impossibility for a full blooded demon. If he had died, she felt like the guilt would have been too much for her to bare.

When Izo had recovered, she was so relieved she had kissed him. More or instinct than anything else, but certainly born out a certain desire. Right before they had escaped her sisters' floating island, she had bit him, drawing blood. Even in the crazy panic of that moment, she had enjoyed the delicious taste of his blood. It was confusing for her, especially before she embraced her emotions, to desire to bite him again.

Then he and his family took her in, cared for her. Especially his human mother and telepathic father. Izo recovered and dotted on her in her few weeks of bed rest. An ice knight. She had not deserved it, could never deserve it. She was frozen back then, but she still watched him fall in love with her. She still dealt with the craving for his blood once more, even though it was an easy desire to keep in check.

When she had her son, under the care of that overly pushy doctor and older wolf healer, Izo had been there with her. Him and his parents. Why did they care so much? Why did they help her when she was not their kin? Not really anyway since any son of an ice maiden, like Hiei was, was not considered one with her sisters.

She had nearly died in her labor and delivery, which the doctor blamed on her for not trying a C section. He wanted to cut her open to get her son out, which sounded like a recipe for her own death. Of course she was not going to that. No ice maiden had ever even considered such a thing before. She wanted to have the child and be rid of it, without dying in the process.

Koji... she had not even seen him for hours after giving birth to him. The doctor and wolf healer were too busy trying to keep her alive and from bleeding out in a rushed healing job and blood transfusion.

Izo was ready for her when she awoke though. With her son, that he handed to her. She did not want him, feeling revolted at the sight of him and everything he had cost her. She took him in her arms anyway, when she would have rather thrown him off a cliff. The black haired, red eyed, fire demon runt had the audacity in that moment to fuss and blink up at her. His eyes met hers and she felt her heart melt, if only for a moment. She felt one tear crystallize and slide down her face. Her heart melted in that second and her revulsion change to love for her child in one instant. Koji...

She felt a torrent of emotions fighting to wash over her, but she froze herself, holding them back. She was an ice maiden. Feelings needed to be locked away. Emotions led to desire and desire could lead to wanting men again. Men were a curse on the world, bringing violence and terror and everything wrong with the world. Or so she told herself, like she had told herself growing up. The way her mother and older sisters had told her. She had to hold her emotions back.

Hiei... Izo's father, would not let her though. He pushed her, subtly threatening her, and made her face her emotions. She could not hold back the tidal wave of feeling roaring in her mind. She broke, letting them wash over her, threatening to drown her in a never ceasing tide.

After the first and most intense wave of emotions overwhelmed her at the hospital, she felt like she was drowning in them. She survived that near drowning, but when they got back to the castle in Alaric, more emotional waves washed over her.

And yet Izo, this ice knight, and his family cared for her. His mother, the odd but pleasantly smelling human, would come to her room at least three times a day to try to coax her to eat, to shower, to speak with her, tell her of her son, and even told her she was trying to invent a pair of gloves that would allow her to speak when she signed in the sign language she and Izo had created together. In the mean time, Nanashi also tried to get her to write what she needed or wanted, but it pained Kotone to admit and finally manage to explain to her that she could not read nor write... Nanashi seemed like she was more ashamed when she realized that.

Weeks had passed with her in the castle and she hardly found the energy to do much of anything. She only saw Koji when Izo brought him to her when she asked him to. Most days she did not ask for him. Yet anything she did ask for, someone brought her. It was not fair and she did not deserve it. It made her almost angry with them all. The day before, she had snapped at Izo, asking why he bothered with her. The ice knight in him only looked wounded at her reaction.

Nanashi had been in with her earlier, managing to convince her to shower, but little else. She was worn out from just that. Nanashi tried to convince her to eat, but she was too tired to eat much more than a few bites of toast.

When Izo came into her room a little later, Kotone was laying on her bed, the same way she had been when Nanashi had left her early. She pushed herself to sit up for him. She did not look at him, even as he sat down next to her.

'Kotone,' he signed her name. She saw it out of the corner of her eye. She nodded over to him, making herself look up at him. 'How are you feeling?'

She shrugged. She had not cried yet today, but that did not keep her from feeling grief and morose.

'Are you hungry?' he signed to her. He could speak, and yet when it was just the two of them, he almost always only signed. He almost always only signed when they were one on one. Well intentioned ice knight.

She shook her head. 'I ate earlier,' she signed halfheartedly, thinking of the few bites of toast she had. She could not remember the last time she felt hungry. Why did he have to be so nice...?

She studied him, noticing he looked flustered. This was first time he seemed that way around her since they got back to the castle after Koji was born. Had he finally clued in that she was not worth the trouble he and his family had gone through?

'Mother,' he signed, but then stopped and dropped his hands. He looked at them, as if unsure what to do with them. She felt fear cut through her. He was going to tell her that Nanashi had decided to make her leave. Was fed up with her inability to take care of herself in her sorry state. Kotone never thought she would be the one to make that call.

He looked back over at Kotone. 'Mother asked me to try something,' he signed. 'Something she says I can do, but...' he sighed, not sure how to sign something. He usually resorted to spelling out words when he hit this point. He was spelling now, which took concentration to catch. 'She said I can heal away most of your depression. That I did it for her once. That I should do it for you. But I don't remember ever doing it before.'

She understood enough of his signing, but did not understand his meaning. Few of her sisters had been healers, but none had been as talented as Izo was. So maybe he could do what his mother was claiming after all.

She swallowed, thinking about what it would mean if he healed her from her depression, like he said his mother thought he could. She wanted it, almost fiercely desiring it immediately. A means to end her constant of misery... It was a strong emotion washing over her, the first time that feeling had come over her sense her emotional thaw. She gasped at it, hand coming to her chest.

'What's wrong?' his hands flashed.

'Try,' she signed rapidly. 'Please.'

He blinked over at her, studying her face with a look that seem want to know her every secret. He reached over cautiously, bringing her hand down from her chest with his left hand and then bringing his right palm down on the middle of her chest where her hand had been. His face flushed scarlet and he did not look at her. Innocent still in one chivalrous way. A knight of ice...

He would not meet her eyes. She felt him begin to push healing energy into her chest. He had healed her before, but this time it felt different. This healing seemed to wash away the sorrow, replacing with fight, grit, and determination; the desire to put her grieving for her old life and the life she might have had behind her and begin again. Seek to restart her life, to be a better person. She closed her eyes. She clasped her hands tightly down upon his wrist so he would not stop. She panted as these newly felt and strong emotions washed over her, but she embraced them like a life saver in a storm at sea.

When she felt like every bit of sorrow had been banished from within her, she let his wrist go. She looked over at him shyly. He was panting and looked like he was sweating a little bit from exertion.

'I don't...' she started to sign. Even her hands felt like they had renewed vigor. 'I don't deserve that.'

He said and signed nothing, but just smiled at her with a longing look in his eyes. He loved her, the foolish ice knight.

When her stomach let loose a loud growl, she laughed for the first time in a long time. He laughed with her.


	45. Chapter 45

Izo had not completely healed away her depression, grief and sorrow still lingered, but in a lesser, more manageable existence for Kotone. She still missed the ability to speak, but with most of her tongue missing, that was not going to happen naturally ever again.

Nanashi had managed to create a set of gloves that were engineered with little wires and electricity to allow her a voice. When she signed with them, a voice spoke for her. An odd, feminine voice that sounded nothing like her old voice, but she was thankful for them nevertheless.

She felt so indebted to all of them, with seemingly no source of which to repay them. They had staff aplenty, so she could not take on a role as a cleaner or a cook or something as lowly as that.

Most of her days after Izo had healed her had been looking after Koji and even helping Izo's younger brother, Kaze. When not caring for them, Izo worked with her to help to teach her to read. It was hard to make sense of all the symbols and sounds without being able to speak them, but she made due.

Izo's sister, Hikari, and her mate, Takashi were still staying with them, but with plans to go back to the capital of the Demon World soon. It was surreal that he was prince of the Demon World, making Izo's sister the princess of the Demon World. She was in the presence of royalty and had not realized it until after the fact.

She liked Hikari, but was unsure about Takashi. He was loud and boisterous. She could understand quickly why there was tension between Hiei and him. She wanted to like him though. He a gruff, but honest way when he was around. He did not tip toe around her.

A few days before Takashi and Hikari had been set to leave, Kotone found herself wandering about the grounds. She wanted to explore the castle and was allowed to go where she pleased for the most part. She wandered down to the stables, finding Takashi there. She gasped, surprised to see the large, winged beasts inside the stalls. There were about a dozen of them. They had the faces of eagles, the wings of eagles, and the bodies that were a mix of lions and horses.

"What are they?" she signed to Takashi, who was in one of the stalls with the beast taller than him. She was still adjusting to the strange voice that came from the gloves.

Takashi jumped next to the beast. The beast shied, bringing its front legs off the ground almost a foot. "Great Mother, don't sneak up on me like that," he snapped at her. The beast was prancing in place. Takashi turned his attention back to the beast, shushing to it soothingly.

Kotone froze, unsure what to do. The other beasts were in the stalls, but only a few of them seemed to notice that she spooked one of their own.

"What do you want?" Takashi asked her when he had the beast calmed. He slipped a bridle over its neck and mouth. The beast shook its head from side to side, but Takashi did manage to get the bit between its beak mouth.

"What are they?" she signed-asked again.

Takashi led the beast out of the open stall door. It was taller than he was. Kotone back away from the two of them skittishly. She backed up into the door of the stall behind her. Another beast was in there. It came over to her, nuzzling its beak down on her shoulder. She froze, staring wide eyed at.

Takashi stopped in front of her. "They're hippogriffs. My clan has been breeding and taming them for centuries. My father gave four to Lord Hiei and Lady Nanashi years ago. They bred the original four to get the ten here now that they own. This one is mine, and the one in the stall next to his is Hikari's. They don't live too long, but they are swift as the wind when it comes to flying. Hikari and I will take ours back to the Hayato Territory in a few days. Or whenever she wants to leave." He shook his head slightly.

Kotone simply stared at him in amazement, not sure what to make of what he was telling her. She had never dreamed of such creatures existing in the Demon World before. She turned to the one that had been nuzzling her. She took off her glove and reached her hand up to stroke the feathers along its neck gingerly.

"They need exercised daily, flown about to ensure they stay healthy. One of my clansmen, Hotaka, runs these stables. Ten is a bit much for him to handle though, but he manages. Her ladyship tries to help him when she can," Takashi kept talking. "She doesn't like flying on them though. Who can blame her when she fly by her dragon's wings anyway. That's probably a way better way to fly. But not all of us can do it..."

Kotone let out a breathy sigh, that would have sounded like 'wow' if she still had her tongue.

"Do you want to ride her?" Takashi asked her.

She turned to look at him in shock. The idea seemed impossible, improbable. She wanted to, but she was unsure. She slipped her glove back on. "What if I fell?"

"We can fly low first," Takashi said. "Or not fly. Sometimes they just need a good run is all."

"I couldn't," she sign-talked, even though she really wanted to.

"Nonsense," he said. "Hiei favors you. You can do no wrong in Lord Hiei's eyes," he added in a grumbled tone. "You won't get in trouble, even if something goes awry. He'll blame me, but won't do anything significant. His daughter's his favorite child."

Kotone looked up at the hippogriff in front of her. "What's its name?"

"It says on the stable door. Bramble. She's a bit young, but should be docile enough for a new rider," Takashi told her. He turned back to his hippogriff. "This is Grifter." He tied the bridle up to a post by the stable door. "Give me a second and I'll tack her up for you."

Kotone watched him get the hippogriff dubbed Bramble ready for her. She watched him in fascination as he ramble on about what he was doing and why. It seemed like so much work and care.

When he was finished, he brought Bramble out of her stall and handed Kotone the reins. "Lead her after me. Keep a bit of distance though in case Grifter feels like kicking."

Kotone removed her gloves, tucking them carefully into her pants pockets. Nanashi had warned her to be careful with them and try not to damage them as they were hard to engineer. Kotone had no desire to be rendered muted again.

She led Bramble out with her, surprised that the hippogriff followed the gentlest tug on the reins to get her to follow.

When they got out into the open yard, Takashi started to explain how to ride properly, but most of it went over Kotone's head. Takashi instructed her to pull down Bramble's reins to get her to kneel down so Kotone could mount her. Kotone obeyed and Bramble obeyed. Takashi then explained and demonstrated how to mount the hippogriffs. Kotone swung herself clumsily behind Bramble's neck and in front of the wings, as Takashi had. She felt like her skinny legs were being spread indecently wide on the saddle over the back of the beast. Her feet slid into the stirrups like an afterthought.

Without warning, Bramble stood up suddenly. Kotone pulled on her reins, which made Bramble rear her front legs up. She dropped the reins in panic. Bramble brought her crawled front legs back to the ground. Kotone had yet to pick up the reins anew. Bramble started to walk forward towards a high tuft of green grass. She bent her beak down to it, pecking at it and munching on it.

"Pick up her reins," Takashi called over to her. "You're in charge, not her."

Kotone grabbed the reins and held them up. Bramble huffed and raised her head up. She looked over to Takashi, mirroring his grip on his reins.

"Guide her to walk, just like I told you," he instructed.

Kotone felt like she had no clue what to do, even though she knew he explained it. Without really thinking, she flicked the reins. Bramble huffed again, but began to walk briskly around the yard. It felt too fast for Kotone, making her stomach lurch, but she dared not pull back on the reins.

Takashi guided his Grifter next to her. "Follow me," he said. "You're still a novice, so a trot will be all you should attempt today."

Takashi reared his Grifter towards the woods at what looked like a run. Bramble followed after him at a pace that made Kotone want to panic. She gripped the reins so tightly that her hands hurt, but she dare not pull on them in any direction.

Bramble was likely just jogging, or trotting as Takashi called it, but it felt impossibly fast to Kotone as she bounced up and down ungainly on her back. She watched Takashi in front of her. He went up and down in the saddle in time with how Grifter trotted. She attempted to bounce in time wtih Bramble's trot the way Takashi did with Grifter's. It was hard, but she was too scared to fail and fall. She followed Takashi through the woods, syncing into a steady rhythm with Bramble. It was a freeing feeling.

When they turned back towards the castle, Bramble surprised her. A fallen log was in their path. Takashi simple\y had Grifter jump it. Yet when Bramble went to jump it, she not only jumped it, she unfurled her wings and flew up over the tree tops.

Kotone panicked, but dared not try to pull on the reins in case Bramble reared and she fell. Bramble brayed and flew faster than she had trotted on the ground. Kotone felt a rush of adrenaline thrill through her body. She took the reins in hand and pulled the left one. Bramble went left. She enjoyed the newfound control. She pulled right, making Bramble go right. Kotone guided her back towards the castle, even with no idea as to how to get Bramble to land.

She heard Takashi behind her. She turned her head and saw him flying behind her. "Head to the castle and land her." He seemed slightly annoyed with her by his tone.

Kotone continued to guide her back to the castle, but had no idea how to land her. Bramble knew what to do though. Bramble circled the yard until she came she to the ground in a gentle landing. Kotone did nearly fall off from that though towards the right. Grifter with Takashi landed next to them.

Kotone felt the adrenaline rush wash over her. The aftermath of it made her feel strong, brave, and alive.

"Kotone!" she heard a voice call from behind them.

Kotone looked at the direction of the voice, seeing Izo, her ice knight jogging towards them. She smiled at him. Clumsily, she slipped off Bramble on the side opposite of the side Takashi was on. Her foot caught on the stirrup, making her stumble and tumble to the ground.

Izo rushed over to her on the ground, helping her up. "Are you alright?" he rushed out, brushing off the dirt on her arms.

She smiled and laughed breathily. She could not begin to explain how that ride and flight had made her feel. She threw her arms around his neck, hugging him. He brought his arms around her as well. She nuzzled his neck, feeling the desire to bite him then and there.

Takashi cleared his throat, making Kotone jump and pull away from Izo. "We need to groom and brushed the hippogriffs when you to are done."

"I'll help you," Izo volunteered.

Oh course he would.


	46. Chapter 46

Before Takashi and Hikari left, Takashi started to teach Kotone how to ride and care for the hippogriffs, but with his fellow clansman Hotaka with them as well. Hotaka had been furious, which had been mildly entertaining to watch, when he found out Takashi took Bramble and let Kotone not only ride her, but fly her, even accidentally.

Kotone watched both Takashi and Hotaka with the hippogriffs. Hotaka knew more about them and how to care for them, but he let Takashi take the lead out of respect for his rank as the son of his clan leaders and monarchs. When Hotaka took her aside when Takashi was out of ear shot and told her would take her on as an apprentice after Takashi left if she would like that. Her neck ached a little bit after she nodded vigorously in consent.

Izo had hovered with them too, but not for the entire time. He had admitted to her that he had lost in flying and riding the hippogriffs when he learned how to fly on his ice dragon. That made her ask him if they could fly together on his dragon. He promised he would another time.

The evening after Takashi and Hikari had left, Izo had made good on his promise. He took her out to the yard where the the hippogriffs were trained, and summoned up his ice dragon as big at it could get. Kotone studied the creature in awe, its translucent, yet corporeal form. Coldness rolled off of it in puffy clouds and waves. She found it fascinating. And powerful. Izo clamored over its back and mounted it with ease and grace, looking every bit like an ice knight.

Without Izo doing or saying anything, the ice dragon knelt down to the ground and he held his hand out to her. She took it with little hesitation and let him guide her up and over top his ice dragon. She was situated right in front of him. The cold of the dragon beneath seemed to seeped into her bones, but it was pleasant feeling to feel so cold after so long. Alaric was a bit too warm for her taste. The cold made her feel alive.

She turned her head to look behind her at Izo. His long, teal blue hair was braided down his back. He was stronger than she had ever seen him, defined muscles noticeable under his long sleeved shirt. He had physically recovered and then some from their imprisonment.

He spooked her at first when he leaned forward over her, but not going for a kiss or anything like that. He leaned forward just enough to reach his hands down in front of her to rest on his ice dragon's neck. He no reins or saddle to speak of, yet this was a beast he could control with his mind as it was extension of himself.

The ice dragon took off at lurch, climbing up into the air with ease. Kotone's stomach lurched right along with it. The ice dragon flew higher, faster, and farther than she had experienced with the hippogriffs so far. It grew colder the high the ice dragon flew, but she liked it, even as she gripped tightly to the beast's neck in front of her. Her hands rested on the inside of Izo's hands. When they busted through the clouds, Kotone felt panic cut through her stomach because she could not see for a seconds. The panic turned to enjoyment when they came up and out of the cloud bank.

It was so cold up here that her breath came in smoky wisps, but it was the perfect temperature. She leaned back against Izo, surveying the sky above the land far below. If they fell, it would mean certain death from this height. They would not fall though, Izo would make sure of that.

When Izo grew weary, they flew back to the castle, landing in the yard. She was shocked when they landed and the ice dragon simply disappeared beneath her. She landed on the ground clumsily on her the balls of her feet and the palms of her hands in a crouching position. She heard Izo chuckle behind her. She turned and looked back at him, watching him smile down at her coyly. She felt like she would never deserve him, but she felt a desire for him stirring up in her. She wanted to bite him, then and there.

Yet not out here, in the open. She stood up and turned to him, smiling demurely. "We should get some sleep," she sign-spoke with her gloves. "I have to be up early. To learn about taking care of the hippogriffs with Hotaka."

Izo stepped closer to her, making her eyes widen and her heart race to be that close to him so suddenly. "Agreed," he said as he breezed past her with a teasing grin.

She watched him saunter away, thinking to herself, 'tonight.'

She did not act on her blossoming desire in the evening, keeping it to herself for fear Hiei, Izo's father, might catch on to what she intended with his telepathy and put a stop to it. He had warned her not to toy with Izo, even though she had serious intentions on her mind after tonight; if they both wanted it.

When everyone headed to bed, Izo walked her to her room next door to his. He lingered there with her, but she did not give into the temptation of kissing him or inviting him in, not just yet.

After bidding him good night without so much as a touch, she slipped into her room and shut the door behind her. She tried to think calming thoughts. She would go to his room in an hour. When he was asleep. So he would be surprised. And hopefully so no one else would hear them.

She showered by herself, desiring to be as clean as possible. The cold water that flowed from the tap awakened her senses and felt refreshing. After that, she dress in a comfortable set of pajamas, waited in her room, and restlessly puttered about. She tried to find something else to focus on. She thought about Koji, healthy and growing stronger everyday. He had no idea the death they dodged. She tried not to dwell on that, as it would bring grief and depression back into the forefront of her mind.

She thought about the hippogriffs and how excited Hotaka had been at the prospect of making her his apprentice in caring for them. Had she never been assaulted, she never would have ended up here with the opportunity to learn how to rear and care for these beautiful, half wild creatures.

When an hour was finally up, she left her gloves laying safely on her nightstand, so not to risk damaging them. She tiptoed out of her room and went to Izo's door. She opened his door as silently as possible, grateful it did not creak. She turned and shut the door softly. It almost sounded like the click of the door shutting echoed throughout the whole bedroom.

She turned and looked over at Izo sleeping in his bed. His window at the left side of the room was open, allowing the cool night air to billow in. The room was comfortable to her. Izo lay on his bed on his back under one thin blanket. His long hair fanned out loose around him. One bare arm lay under the blanket, while the other laid over top the blanket. She could tell he was sleeping shirtless. She felt herself flush.

This was not a mistake, she knew it. Yet if she did this, there would be no going back. There was no going back anyway. She would die if she went back to her sisters. So would Koji. If she went anywhere else, she would never be welcomed as well or treated as well anywhere else.

She wanted him, not just the chance at a better life she offered him. She wanted him, wanted to bite him. Wanted to taste his blood again. He loved her, this ice knight. She wanted to love him back. Surely his father would not find fault in her motivations?

She stole silently across the room towards the bed. He still laid there, asleep. She debated how best to wake him up. She moved to bend down and kiss him, but he woke up as she loomed over him.

He sat up in a flash, his ice dragon in a small form around his neck rolled down his right arm. He paused after that, blinking. He face went from fierce to confused in an instant.

'Kotone,' he signed her name as his ice dragon went back to rest underneath the skin of his neck and shoulders. When he sat up, he had exposed his bare torso. The sight of him made her heart beat faster.

She stole herself down and sat upon his lap sideways. Her legs dangled off the edge the edge of the bed and his thighs. She threw her arms around him and kissed him. In that moment, she wished she still had her tongue as she opened her mouth in the desire to deepen this kiss.

Izo was quick to respond in time with her. His one hand went to her thighs to pull her closer while the other buried its way in her hair behind her head. His tongue slipped into her mouth. She flinched for just a second before yielding to him. Internally, she reminded herself that she was safe here, safe with him. She kept telling herself she was safe.

Izo moved first, pulling mouth away from hers. She moved her mouth down to his neck, but barely grazed it with her teeth when he rolled over to lay down on the other side of his bed on her back. He looked down at her, studying her face cautiously as he loomed over her. She was safe, she had no reason to be afraid.

She felt her desire to bite him overwhelming her. She pulled him down to her, encouraging him to lay down on top of her. He only lay his upper body on hers though. When she went for his neck, his mouth intervened. His reconnected with hers, in a clumsy, rushed manner. She pushed on his shoulders, so he pulled away. She pushed him to lay on his back beside her. She looked him over, noticing how well sculpted his upper body was. Not all demons were liked that. He was strong. It made her ache deep inside, for than just his blood.

She laid her upper body down over top of his, kissing him on the mouth because he seemed to really enjoy that. She did not let him do that for long though. She finally managed to kiss her mouth down to his neck and kissed him there.

When she brought her teeth down upon his flesh and bit, he gasped softly. She had yet to break his skin. When she bit harder, he moaned louder.

"Are you trying to claim me?" he asked in a voice half panicked.

Annoyed, she pulled her mouth from his neck and brought her face up to his eye line. His eyes sparkled in a way that told her if she wanted to, he would not stop her.

'No,' she signed. She held up one finger and then signed 'bite.'

He looked up at her, a mix of desire and fright coloring his face. She wanted to bite him so must she thought she would scream in response.

He desired her still. She slid herself over his torso, straddling him. His hands came to her hips, clenching them. His hands shook. The realization hit her suddenly. He was untouched. He had never been with a woman before, much to her surprise. Someone who looked liked that, was strong like that, was a virgin.

Both of them would need to be handled gently by the other. She drew a deep breath in and out. Her hands came down to the bottom of her sleep shirt, pulling it up and over her head. He gasped at the site of her uncovered, while his hand held fast to her hips. She took them gently in her hands, bringing them up to her mouth to kiss them. She then place them back down on the bed on either side of her legs. It did not take long for his to come and grip her calves in turn.

'Do you want me?' she signed down to him, partially unsure what his answer would be. He nodded, even as he panted. She noticed that his eyes never seemed to leave her face. 'For one bite,' she bargained.

He raised his right hand up and touched his neck. He shook his head. She slumped, disappointed. Then he moved his hand over to his shoulder and nodded.

She brought herself off of him in order to slip off her sleep pants and panties underneath. This had her too nervous to even look at him. She could not look him in the face for nerves as she saw he was busy stripping his own pants and boxers off. She dared not look anywhere but his stomach at this point.

She was safe, she reminded herself. She was safe here and in the present. She turned sideways to face him, meeting his soft, wet lips without realizing how close he was to her. He rolled over top of her, but stayed still. His hand came up to gently caress her face.

She wanted to panic when he was on top of her, but she breathed through it. She was here, she was safe, she wanted him. Wanted to bite him most of all.

She pulled him down to her, but went for his shoulder rather than his mouth. She lined her eye teeth up with the outer end of his collar bone and forced her jaw to close. He tore loose a rugged scream and nearly pulled away from her.

She pushed him away, pushed him to get on his back on the bed. He lay there, wincing and panting. She went to the puncture wound she had created, sucking on it without a care. She could hardly taste much anymore with the remnant of tongue left to her, but the power and thrill that washed over her made it worth it. Made it all worth it.

She pulled away from the wound, kissing it. She felt stronger, braver, more sure of herself. She wanted him now, in a whole other way. Nervously, she pulled him to climb over top of her. He kept his torso erect, but he brought his hands down to rest on her hips. She smiled up at him, nodding.

Instead of sliding inside of her as she expected, he reached over to his nightstand, pulling out a small square package. She watch him open, fingers fumbling. He pulled out a smaller translucent circle from it. He carefully slipped it onto his member.

When he finished, he signed to her, 'protection.' As if that was all he needed to explain. She puzzled about it for the few seconds before he entered her.

Next, he brought his hand down to his member, shoving it unpracticed inside of her. She winced, nearly screaming. It hurt. She tried not to compare it to who else had hurt her like this once. She snuck her mouth back to his wounded shoulder, sucking on it. He moaned at this. It distracted her from the pain.

He kept moving inside of her, in what seemed to be intentionally gentle. She felt like her core was burning, first from a stabbing pain, then a more pleasant heat flowed over her. She almost found it enjoyable.

When he pulled off of her, she was almost surprised. He kissed her softly. He rose off of her, pulling the circle off of his member. He tied the end of it and tossed it into the trash can by his bed.

Next, he laid down on the bed on his back, pulling her over to him. She laid her head down on his shoulder. She watched as he raised his hand over his chest, signing the word, 'mine.'

She nipped his shoulder with teeth, drawing his attention to her face. She mouthed the word, 'mine,' right back to him.


	47. Chapter 47

Epilogue: over a century and a half later.

Kayda stared unblinking at the tissue in her hand. Blood, again. She was coughing up blood again. It made her want to cry and rage at the same time. She stayed on her bed in her room, pouting and trying not to panic. She quickly shoved it in her pocket, frightened at the prospect of what would happen if someone saw it. Last time she had thrown it away, but someone found it in the trash. Mother had been livid with her when she found out where it had come from.

She had hardly spent a month in the Demon World this time around. She did not want to go back Human World to get her lungs to heal back up after the exposure to the Demon World air.

It was not fair. Her three older sisters never had to go to the Human World for health reasons. They were all wind demonesses. Hastuko, the oldest had always been strong, always healthy, as far as Kayda was concerned. She had never been sick a day in her life practically. She rarely missed training either. A true warrior princess and heir to the throne if there ever was one.

Between Hastuko and Kayda were the twins: Sora and Sayua. Wind demonesses who were mischievous. They liked to fool around and play pranks throughout the castle, the grounds, the Hayato Territory, and anywhere else the could find an unsuspecting victim that they could fly away from. Kayda hated it when they pranked her.

Yet Kayda showed no signs of being any kind of demon type. Not a wind demon especially. Father said she may had been a mental one like his mother before him, but she should no signs of being able to see the future, bless someone, or give someone orders they had obey. He told her to be patient as some demons developed abilities when they matured, but usually that only happened to the weakest of the weak demons. The idea only upset her more when she thought about it. She did not want to be a weakling.

None of the four of them had inherited elemental serpents or dragons, but of the three of her sisters, Hastuko could conjur a bow and arrow from her own energy. Before the plague, their paternal grandfather had trained her. After... Father trained her. The twins could fly, but conjur nothing. They took up swords. Before the plague, their maternal grandfather trained them. After... Their fire demon cousin took his time to help train him, when he was not off with their eldest uncle recruiting and train more Shinobu warriors. Eldest Uncle was the leader of the Shinobu. Kayda used to day dream about joining him one day, but that dream dimmed every time she was choked by the toxic Demon World air. Only a strong demon could become Shinobu.

Yet out of four sisters and one cousin, Kayda was left the most human. Her fire demon cousin lucked out and was wholly demon, in spite of his father, Elder Uncle, being half human. The only explanation was that Aunt's genes were stronger than Uncle's. Aunt was a former ice maiden, and their genes always dominated over the father's. Lucky.

Mother was half human too, but Kayda ended up being the most human of them all. It seemed like the only demon thing about her was her blood type. That was least something she had over their younger uncle. He was born a wind mage, but with human blood; a thousand to one chance combination. He preferred the Human World over the Demon World though. He lived there as a monk. Each time Kayda got sick, she was sent to stay with him and his fellow monks in hopes that the rural mountain air would help her lungs heal faster. She hated it, yet Mother insisted. Father may be King, but Mother was his queen as well as his Queen. In her mind, Uncle Monk was the safest place she could be when her lungs were scaring from the Demon World's toxic air.

She rolled off her bed, trying not to cough, even as it tickled the back of her throat. She did not want to go back to that monastery she just escaped from. Especially when her maternal grandmother seemed so unwell. She slept often, ate little, and her mind was slipping more and more each day. Sometimes she knew who everyone was and everything that had happened; other times Kayda was a stranger to her and she would ask after her mate, or cousin, or other friends. She was the only grandparent her and her sisters and cousin had left. The other three were lost when that plague whipped through the Demon World one summer three years ago. Humans and the part humans were immune, but one out of every five died from this dreaded sweating sickness. Father had gotten it too, but he managed to survive it. Kayda heard Sora and Sayua joking once that the only reason he survived it when their demon grandparents did not was because Mother forbade him to die.

Kayda could not keep herself from coughing anymore. She ran to her bathroom, turned on the faucet, and then freely coughed as the sound of the water would drown the sound of her coughing turned retching. She hated the taste of blood and phlegm. She spat up into the sink, trying not to look at the gross clumps of runny liquid that were red and green mixing together. She brought her mouth under the tap, swishing the water in her mouth before spitting it all out into the sink. She kept the water running until all the evidence was washed away.

She would need to tell someone, and soon. Mother was livid when she kept her coughing up blood secret because it only got worse and would take longer for her lungs to recover. They had tried to simply have her healed when she was younger, but it did not work effectively. When the coughing came back a few days after healing, it was always worse. Neither did medicine from the Human World nor the Demon World. The best 'cure' her parents found was her going to Uncle Monk until her human like lungs healed on their own naturally.

She thought about Grandmother again. If Kayda had to go back to the Human World again, she at least wanted to say goodbye to her in case she passed away before Kayda recovered. Then she would go to Father and tell him she was coughing up blood again. Father was always more gentle with about it when he told her. He commiserated with her. Before his father died, he would go with her to Human World and stay with her at the monastery often. After he became the King of the Demon World, he could scarcely visit her in her medical exile.

She crept silently through the halls of the castle, trying not to attract any unwanted attention. When she felt the urge to cough, she sucked on her tongue and swallowed her spit to help wash away the itch.

She made it to Grandmother's room without incident. She opened the door and slipped into the room. Grandmother lay on her bed, propped up. The young nurse who took care of her looked up from the empty tray she had just picked up. Grandmother must have just finished breakfast.

"Princess," the nurse said to Kayda with the best bow she could manage. She said the tray back down on the wide nightstand by Grandmother's bed. She touched Grandmother's arm softly, waking her back up. "My lady, Princess Kayda is here to see you."

Grandmother jumped up, her grey, almost white hair ruffled. She opened her grey, clouded eyes, turning her head in the direction of the nurse, but not looking at her. "Princess? Kayda?" she mumbled in confusion.

"Your youngest grandchild," the nurse told her softly. "Thirteen years old now-"

"Fourteen," Grandmother interrupted. "She's fourteen. She spent her last birthday in the Human World because she had been coughing up blood again."

Kayda smiled to herself. Grandmother remembered her. That did not happen all the time. She remember her fire demon cousin most of the time, with Hastuko coming in second to her memory. However, Kayda and the twins were younger, so she remembered them less often.

"Come here, my dear," Grandmother beckoned her, hand reaching towards where she thought Kayda might be.

Kayda felt a cough rippling up in her throat, but she quelled it. She went over to Grandmother, taking her hand. Grandmother moved in her own slow and weary way to make room. Kayda sat down on the edge of her bed, like the dozens of time she had before.

"You are dismissed again, Yumi," Grandmother's voice crackled out.

"As you wish, my lady," the nurse said before she picked up the tray and left the room.

When they were alone, Grandmother asked, "what is it, my child?" In a split second, her hand clasped almost painfully down on Kayda, spooking Kayda. She sat up rigidly. "You're not sweating, are you? You haven't got the sweating sickness?" she asked her fiercely.

"No," Kayda said. Grandmother sighed and her grip slackened.

Kayda lucked into a moment with Grandmother more lucid. She had been with Grandmother before where she kept asking for her mate, not knowing he was gone. Father had told Kayda that if Grandmother ever asked or talked about either grandfather as if they were still alive to say they were coming to see her soon. Father had made the mistake once of telling her they had passed away years ago, which distressed Grandmother greatly to recall after forgetting.

Grandmother hummed forlornly. "Good. That illness strikes so fast, so suddenly..." She looked over at Kayda's direction and gruffed. "Oh course you don't have it, a human or quarter human is immune."

"It's okay, Grandmother," Kayda soothed. "I just thought I'd come and see you is a-" she started before a cough seized her so suddenly. She let go of Grandmother's hand. She coughed, but clenched her jaw shut so she would not get the bloody phlegm on the bed or floor. She dug the used tissue out of her pocket and spat in it. She tried not to notice how it was more blood than mucous.

Grandmother's hand came to her back, rubbing the middle of it soothingly. "You're sick again," she said in a comforting voice.

Kayda wadded up the tissue and shoved it back into her pocket. She turned and laid her head down on Grandmother's shoulder. Grandmother held her. What would she ever do without her? She whimpered into her shoulder.

"Shh," Grandmother soothed. "You can't help your illness. It's not your fault."

Kayda brought her hand up and wiped away the few tears that had rolled down her face. "It's not fair. Not even Uncle Kaze is so human like me."

Grandmother chuckled softly. "Being human, must be the worse thing imaginable."

Kayda sat up, laughing in spite of herself, even as a cough raked over her. She dug the tissue back of her pocket again, wiping off the back of her mouth. She blinked away her tears, looking over at Grandmother, whose jaw was moving, but her lips were still.

Grandmother closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, she gave a sad smile in Kayda's direction. "You're so young, with so much to live for. I understand why you prefer the Demon World over the Human World. You yearn for it the same way your grandfather yearned for it when he was in exile in the Human World." She reached her right hand out, brushing her fingers through Kayda's hair. "Your hair even feels the same as his did... Right..."

Grandmother's right hand suddenly seized Kayda on the side of neck in a firm, yet not quite painful way. Kayda froze, not moving, not even breathing. She hoped she would not cough or sputter in this moment.

"I knew one day I would do this for you. Ever since you first started having breathing problems in the Demon World. Your mother made me promise not to though," Grandmother rambled. "I had your soul wave length checked when you were younger. Ours are in alignment." Kayda frowned, but stayed stock still. Grandmother had started not making sense again. "Your mother will forgive me, one day." Kayda watched, unblinking as Grandmother conjured up her compact wind dragon. "Quickly, go. Before I change my mind," she strained out.

The wind dragon rolled down Grandmother's arm and headed straight for Kayda's neck. Kayda closed her eyes and scrunched up her face. It felt like her neck was on fire, but there was no way to kill the flames. The flames spread down her neck and through out her whole body. She wanted to scream, but her throat felt like it seized up.

When it felt like the flames burned out, Kayda felt Grandmother's hand go slack. Kayda opened her, blinking. Kayda looked down at Grandmother. Grandmother laid down on the bed, breathing heavily, suddenly in a deep sleep.

"Grandmother?" she murmured, panic washing over her.

'Go to your father and tell him what happened,' an unfamiliar voice hissed in head. 'Now!'

Kayda rose up, tore the door open and ran from the room. She could not help but notice as she ran for her Father's throne room, that she could breathe better now than she ever had in her life.


End file.
